


Dragon Kidnaps Princess - how does she survive?

by AsheeChaos



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dragons, Ifrit - Freeform, Kidnapping, Princes & Princesses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-26 00:12:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 40
Words: 28,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13224150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsheeChaos/pseuds/AsheeChaos





	1. Chapter 1

The tower rumbled.

I blinked the sleep out of my eyes.

Or tried to, now the tower was actually shaking.

What.

I clawed tightly onto my mattress, wrapping myself into the blankets a little tighter.

No one had said the tower was instable!

 

The tower was shaking.

With… with impact?!

It felt like something broke and-

Something ROARED.

I saw an eye, glimpsing through the window. A giant eye.

I stared at it, my own eyes wide.

It was a slitted pupil, adjusting to me.

Blue and huge and…

Dragons didn’t do that! They did not do things like that!

Not anymore!

And…

I was shaking. While the giant eye narrowed, a low grumbling laugh shaking the bloody tower.

Things… broke.

They broke and I hid under the covers, everything crashed and broke and the high winds suddenly blew right over me, pulling on the blankets, it was a rush of sound and motion and everything and then it was… silent.

 

And warm.

And… and weird-smelling.

And I was still in my bed.

When I opened my eyes, everything was dark.

Only the… the noises were there.

Strange noises.

Snapping and cracking and… and like something moves.

And it was warm.

And… and… I was still in my bed!

I burrowed myself deeper inside.

Did… did this… actually…

What in the world was happening?!

Except… except my bed… moving… under me.

Wavy.

I jumped when there was a… a gulping motion?!

I froze some more.

Did… did the dragon… did it… did it.. eat… m-

 

I stared. I stared in front of me. My topmost blanket flew off.

There was a rush of air going past me. And I saw… I saw… TEETH.

Air going through… teeth. Giant, sharp, terrifying teeth.

Light went through them.

They made a crushing sound when they fitted together again.

I was shaking.

When it suddenly smelled of sulfur, I… lost my nerve.

I have… no idea what happened in the next… time.

I don’t recall getting out. I don’t recall pain or anything…

I just… opened my eyes at one point and… was still in my bed.

In my… weirdly burnt-smelling, somewhat moist and… broken bed.

I… had planned to break my bed in more… pleasant ways.

And now I was… I was in… in a tower.

There are plants around.

All around.

I’m in my broken bed, surrounded by a ruinous cavern and…

I heard a rumbling sound.

I froze.

This… wasn’t happening.


	2. Chapter 2

The rumbling did not go away. It rose and fell, but it did not go away.

It sounded like it was made by something… huge.

Breathing.

I was shaking.

I stared into the darkness and shook, listening to this… sound.

It was just… there.

…

About half an hour, the smell caught up to me.

The sulphur was hard to ignore. The burnt smell neither.

It got more intense by the second.

I slowly worked myself to the edge of the blanket, lifted the end up enough to let some additional air in. There… was not much light out.

But… but there was still the breathing. And I saw the plants already and… cracked walls.

Not-burnt, cracked walls.

I gasped.

The fresh air made it worse,

I threw the blankets off, the motion startling myself.

A little.

But when I stopped to look there was still just… darkness. And breathing.

And a burnt-smelling bed.

I clampered down from it and walked towards the edge of the room: I… was in a tower. It went dowb. And down from there.

Way down. All the way cracked stone. Really. All marble and cracked and… it was everywhere.

It was also cold. On my naked feet. Or under them. 

After a quick look around, there was a wardrobe and my – slightly glimmering – bed and a chair and a table and a… a door!

Looked burnt.

But it was a door!

It was an out!

I poked the door handle before pressing it down. Wasn’t hot. No inferno behind.

I opened it with a bit of difficulty, pulled my nightskirts up and ran down the spiraling stairs.

Somewhere around the hundreds step my mind went… somewhere.

It supplied helpful information like ‘pitterpatter is a good word for naked feet on marble’, and beautiful gems like 'this style has been out since about 200 years’ or 'at least the material is stable’.

Because apparently, that were things to think if there was a dragon breathing all around you and you flee down stairs.

But there was just… no much happening.

There was a handrail. And it just went down… endlessly.

And nothing much changed.

There was a window every two dozen steps. Shaped hole-in-wall-windows.

…

the constant breathing helped the adrenaline a bit, but when I saw my breath in front of my face in tiny puffs of air, it was getting…

I didn’t think about it.

I was down.

There was another door.

There still wasn’t an inferno behind. But the breathing got louder.

The door closed.

I didn’t think about that.

The next second, I just saw a closed door.

Deep breaths.

Concentrating on breathing.

I’d seen… I’d seen walls.

That’s… that’s it. There had been a wall.

That’s… that’s not that bad.

I carefully pushed down the handle again and the door swung open.

There, sure enough, was a wall. And louder noise. But still the same rhythm.

So I kept the… the pitter-patter to a minimum and started into the… floor, apparently. I decided away from the noise was probably the best choice.

It went away from the bit of light that the… the moon, I supposed, I had not paid attention, gave.

So… deeper into the castle.

Well, I knew how a castle looked from the inside.

The looked all the same.

There was a logic order to servant rooms and great halls and floors and… everything.

This logic here involved a lot of marble and iron. Cast iron.

And no candles.

Still cracks everywhere, but my suspicion that the great hall would be opposite of my tower-exit was… right. As I saw after I opened another – creaking, had they all been creaking? - door.

There was air blowing immediately, messed up the hair. Felt cold.

Big marble table, chairs, more cast iron, the usual layout of a castle and…

…

I stood in the entrance and… stood there.

Because maybe… if I stood really still… the breathing would come back.

Because it wasn’t there right then.

Because the breathing-owner stared at me.

I don’t know how big it was.

Ginormous.

Too big.

And I was shaking to the core.

I saw it’s head. It’s eye. And it stared at me.

Maybe it wou-

The next moment was something I will only remember in my nightmares.

Well, I was not dead.

But the dragon – it really, really was one, breathed.

It breathed in.

And I could do nothing. Nothing. Scrabbling or holding or anything did nothing, it just breathed and I… I was pulled towards the teeth and then everything was dark.

No pain.

But it was too much.

My terribly helpful ind supplied something about 'fainting princesses’ before it collapsed completely.


	3. Chapter 3

The next time I woke up, I was freezing.

I think I woke up because I was freezing.

My teeth were chattering and the shudder hurt.

I swallowed reflexively and even that hurt.

 

My body protested when I reoriented myself, still shaking.

I… I was on the bed again! But… also slightly goopy an-

I felt the next major shudder coming. Before it happened, I wrapped myself into the blankets.

Still smelled weird, those. But they promised warmth.

Falsely.

False promises!

They were cold!

But I… really did not feel like moving.

Swallowed again. It felt weird.

Dry. Hard.

Swallowing still hurt.

Actually, I was miserable.

The breathing was back, too.

I was not sure if I should be happy about it.

 

This… this was unacceptable.

All of it. The whole situation was.

Everything about it!

At least the blankets slowly became warmer.

I didn’t feel so good, really.

I concentrated on frowning and being wrapped for the next few minutes.

It helped with the shudders.

It didn’t help with the numb feeling in my throat. Or my stomach rumbling.

Because it did that, audibly.

Felt it, too.

I felt like one of those shell-creatures the knights told me about. I wanted to retract in one as well.

Unfortunately, I only had blankets.

…

Those thoughts were not actually sensible.

I couldn’t be going crazy already. It was only… day… two?

The sun seemed to be setting, so… probably.

 

To recap: I had a disgusting smelling bed, a dragon sleeping downstairs, I was cold and hungry and thirsty and thinking strange things.

… I was somewhat thankful that the stupid castle had at least toilets.

I used it before descending down the stairs again.

Went there already. Was nothing new. It simply… felt like a longer way down, counted eight windows.

This time… I wouldn’t go into the Great Hall. Even if the dragon was still sleeping – really, the constant breathing was now almost… normal?

… constant dragon breathing was normal.

The world was at a new low: Giant lizards are a steady part of it.

Well… but… the kitchens. They were located… a bit behind and under the Great Hall, usually, so… following the floor down and to the other side should lead to less impressive doors.

Which they did.

Quite a few doors, actually.

I kind of wished for some door-un-creaker, but… that was not going to happen so I just very, very slowly opened the first door.

It led to… a broken in hallway.

This did not fill me with hope. More with moldy smell and a nose full of strange dust.

I did my damnest not to sneeze.

The next one… led deeper into the castle. It got darker.

There were no torches. There were no candles.

Just a bit of light came in from… some tiny hole in the wall further up.

There were servant-exits, right?

I tapped around on the freezing ground, using the wall as a guide. After my eyes got a little more used to the darkness, I could even guess at the stairs. It didn’t get much better, really, they weren’t exactly intact, but… in the end, there was a door.

Which I opened. Behind it was… darkness.

Seriously, I couldn’t see a thing.

I frowned at it until the heaving dragon made an unusual noise and I slowly ventured into it.

One step after another in total darkness.

It wasn’t reassuring in the least.

But well, at least the dragon certainly couldn’t follow me here.

After way too long a time, there was a turn. And when I squinted and looked into the new direction I could - very faintly - see light at the end of another too long walk. One that I started too fast – I stumbled over some stone that I still absolutely did not see.

Rubbing my knee, I reached for the door handle and pressed down.

When the door opened, I was very, very glad to see actual earth.

It stung on my feet, but it definitely was less cold.

So… I was… on a mountain.

Kind of.

The view – some part of my mind apparently had time for this – was stunning.

Hills and forests and untouched lands for all the world to see, a river in the distance, other mountains… it would be a landscape one of our artists would paint. With pleasure.

I… was mostly concerned.

Because I did not see any villages. Or castles.

Or… anything. Just nature.

And a big wide field of nothing.

After a steep downhill climb.

I had somehow managed to actually leave the castle. To find one of the escape tunnels! On sheer blind luck.

Now I just had to… to get down.

I didn’t hear the breathing anymore. I… took that as a good sign.

So… I slowly made my descend through bushes and overgrown grass and general nature.

It might work as a cover. At least I thought it might. Maybe?

I did not feel very good at doing this job. Didn’t have much practice, but I didn’t slip and… was still on the mountain, so… that counted for something.

After a while, my stomach made itself known. Maybe there would be some berries or something… somewhere. Maybe even ones that wouldn’t kill me.

… seriously, this kidnapped-by-dragon-business had not been covered by any teacher. It bloody well should be.

Then I might know know where to go or what to do or… I don’t know!

I knew how to survive a fancy dinner party, but I think the current predicament had much slimmer survival chances. So… I think this here was a more pressing issue!

My grumbles followed me. Anger is productive! Right?! Right.

Hell, I hoped the bloody guards would show up at one point. I’d even take one of the arrogant knights!

…

That there was no path didn’t make anything better. Not only that: I might have been sorely disappointed on the berry portion of the bushes, but definitely oversatisfied with the thorn-portion of it.

My nightskirts weren’t made for this.

My feet weren’t made for this. My hands weren’t made for this! Nothing was made for bloody this!

Dragon, why?!

I send a resentful stare towards the castle, because… seriously, why. I didn’t deserve any of this.

…

It took a moment to process what I had just seen.

Then I looked back.

The resentful stare was answered.

The dragon looked at me.

It… didn’t do much. Laid there like an overgrown winged lizard and stared. Not that I saw much of it. Just… like… the top half, since it was half-covered by mountain… and castle… and other things.

It… looked a lot like… like a dog. Somehow. Attentively staring.

It was very blue.

And stared.

I looked around for other things it might look at and… no. No, there was nothing.

It stared at me.

I stared back.

There was… nothing to hide behind. The tunnel was too far away. Everything was too far away.

My lip quivered.

I could feel that, because this just wasn’t fair.

Nothing was fair.

I sat down.

And I heard rumbling.

Because the bloody thing moved.

And honestly? I would have liked to be a fainting princess just then. But apparently, my brain got used to utter terror, because the next thing I knew was getting sucked in again. And then… then I… sat on a tongue. A TONGUE.

And then was… spit out.

Carefully spit out. On the friggin bed.

I was not sure what to feel this moment. I did not feel much of anything.

Maybe my brain was exhausted.

Too much of anything.

Everything hurt.

I shell-creatured into my blankets.

Bugger.


	4. Chapter 4

I…actually kind of waited for the sleep, there.

Waited for quite some time.

Stared at the cracked wall, kind of.

I was exhausted. And my head swam.

I was in pain… and I thought with the warmth slowly seeping into me, I kind of… guessed it would be better. But… it didn’t. Everything hurt even more.

I thought I would sleep and then the bloody dragon would be asleep, too, later, and I could try again, but…

… it didn’t seem to come.

The sleep.

And my scrapes burnt. My throat burnt.

And actually, I felt a little… weird.

Pulse was so loud… and my mouth was so dry… and…

I… somehow felt like… like a bloody dragon spit me out!

In this moment, I threw the blankets off and grabbed one of the stupid stones that I bloody stumbled over ad threw it at the bloody dragon: “EY! You STUPID OVERGROWN LIZARD!”

“GIVE ME SOME WATER!,” I threw another one.

“AND FOOD! I’M HUNGRY YOU STUPID DRAGON!”

There were not too many stones. And I felt a little dizzy. I threw another.

“EY!”

It moved.

And, as angry as I was, I still twitched back when it actually looked at me.

It stared.

“YOU KIDNAPPED ME! SO GIVE ME FOOD!,” my voice sounded scratchy as all hells.

And the frickin lizard blew air at me.

So I fell on the floor. And then… it laid back down.

I felt dizzy.

And not happy.

And… I crawled back into the bed.

At least… at least I was then a little… warmer.

Maybe the bloody dragon would come to it’s senses.

Hopefully.

My throat hurt.


	5. Chapter 5

The next time I woke up, I was not, in fact, shivering.

But everything felt… mute.

Cushioned.

And hot.

My face felt hot.

Everything felt hot.

I tried to lift my hand, but… noticed there was something on it. Too heavy.

I cracked my eyes open. That, too, felt… strange.

Dry.

Did I get sick?

“Unnngh,” I closed my eyes again.

There had been a fire somewhere.

And then I… heard? Some people?

“… a real princess… stupid things… do… elle,” it was a tired-sounding… voice.

Voice?

My ears were covered.

… reminded me of the ghosts at home. They talked in the weirdest way, too.

“… done… for a REASON, it’s right!,” that was a ghost with anger issues.

Oh boy.

Meanwhile, I discovered that there was a blanket laying on my hand that kept me from moving it.

It was a thin blanket, too. Oh. Something went wrong, then.

I felt the most tired sigh of exasperation in this moment. It felt like it had been tired for ages and sees no chance of getting better any time soon. Also: Well tested patience.

First ghost, then…

These were some pretty intense ghosts, man. Mh, maybe it was because I was sick.

“… real princess…. trouble… stay buried…,” mister exasperation wasn’t happy. But… I actually didn’t want to hear. This might be about me, though?

I tried to listen a little harder.

“… new ways are stupid… tionally was better!,” miss angry said.

Then… I actually heard a noise. A door?

“… may, that still means you have to take care of them, that does not go away,” that… almost sounded like actual speech. Because it was all clear. But… it wasn’t.

I slowly opened my eyes. And.. there was someone… coming towards me. A person!

An actual person!

I… actually, I knew that person.

“You’re… one … ‘fy knight,” there were words missing, and I did not think this was actually my voice, but… seriously! He was one of the stuffy knights that sometimes visited the castle with stories from afar that were either a lie or at least way overdone.

His smile did not change, he looked at me with worry and care: “Ah, you’re awake…” And put something nice-smelling and cool on my forehead. I could have melted on the spot, “…this should help with the fever”

“… ’m safe?” for once one of the stupid knights might have been useful.

His smile became even softer: “…as safe as can be, your highness…”

“They live in these bloody castles, she was plenty safe anyway! Stupid humans not even able to just LIVE!”

That made me look around in concern, just with my eyes, lightly frowning.

And I felt that eternal tiredness flare up again: “Shut up, she might very well be able to hear us”

“It would be best if you rested for a while longer, Princess Jibril… I did not find you in great health…”

I frowned at him. Feeling… less than reassured about anything.

“… mh,” because really. I… even with my pulse thrumming in my ears… I… couldn’t do much.

And I closed my eyes again.

This… this was… not okay.


	6. Chapter 6

I heard soft whispering… and felt a hand on my head…

It was all calming and soothing and… I… knew that voice, right?

I blinked my eyes open.

Again, the knight sat next to me. On a chair.

His hand was nicely cold… and otherwise it was… alright…

“Good morning, your highness,” he still smiled.

… knights were… not known for their bedside manner.

Neither for their whispering and touching princesses.

I frowned at him.

It didn’t deter him much, he continued to pet my hair.

Admittedly, it did feel nice, very nice. Somehow.

But it still was… very odd.

 

“Good… morning,” I sounded more sceptical than anything.

But no, no reaction, still just the same smile.

“… is there a particular reason why you are the one being… here right now?,” because seriously, he’s a man. And alone with her in this room. And… well, that was not exactly right.

“Oh. Well, there is not much personnel around. And you are not perfectly healthy again, so… you need to stay under supervision,” he sounded genuinely sorry. Hrm.

“So… where… am I, exactly? And I would feel better if a nurse would take care of me,” my stomach took this moment to make a terrible sound. And… pull itself all around? In any case: “…ooouutch…”

He petted my shoulder: “… I think it’s more important to get something to edible into you”

… I… I would let it slide. Because yes. It… might be… a good idea.

 

He left, sure steps like nothing in the world was wrong.

I supposed knights were supposed to be like this, all sure of themselves at all times, but… this one was just… a little too unconcerned. Hrm.

But well… he was gone and I was hungry, but… I could at least look around. It seemed like I was still in a bed and still covered. But… I noticed it wasn’t… blankets. It was furs.

Very soft fur, really, but I still startled.

It was very fluffy. The upmost one. There were others.

And there was a… vry feathers mattress under me. Didn’t prickle. Very soft. Plus pillows. I laid on pillows. But everything was covered in… fur.

So… there was a… royal household who used furs.

This had also not been covered in princess-studies up to now.

There was also… furs on the floor. And the walls and…

… there was a marble chair. And a marble table.

And a fireplace. A fire was burning inside. Brightly, too. And warm.

I blinked and rubbed the soft furs between my fingers. Could do that now, so I certainly had gotten better. But… I didn’t dare moving much more. Still felt weak.

… and I didn’t want to think too much about the marble around me. Because… I really did not.

“… nurse! … no problem!,” angry ghost seemed to be back.

“… rget it… later… you,” resigned ghost apparently, too.

… they didn’t say more, but soon enough, the door opened and a smell wafted over.

He gave me a plate and a spoon. A wooden spoon. I blinked at that, but… alright.

He only let go of the spoon when I had promised him to eat slowly.

It… was one of the most delicious things I ever ate. Even if too hot.

I slowly – he reminded me every few moments – ate the soup. And a bit of additional warmth spread through my body, one I hadn’t missed before and…

Haaaahh~

I emptied the plate and was… pleasantly dizzy afterwards.

He once again petted my head… and wished me good night.

… I somehow believed I had not much of a choice anyway…

Good Night, world…


	7. Chapter 7

I had to take it back.

It was not the most delicious thing.

It was bland. Terribly bland.

It was like absolutely nothing was in this soup.

Except some meat. A tiny bit of meat.

Which as almost tasteless.

Because it probably cooked for a whole year.

It was all watery and not… who cooked this?!

They should be fired immediately!

 

“Sir…,” I had remembered before… he was the strange one, so… I frowned at him, then: “… Israfil. Sir Israfil, your cook might resconsider their place in this castle’s household”

“Err… pardon?,” he had puttered around in the room, stoking the fire and airing the place, opening the shutter on top of the room with a long staff.

And, of course, bringing me another batch of soup.

It’s been the third time now, that he woke me to feed me and talk a little. Very little, because I was still terribly tired. And he explained that to me

He had told me I had scraped my legs on poisonous thorns, and he had given me the antidote and treated my fever and cooled me down and… then I’d slept again.

Next time he had told me about a blizzard and it being terribly cold outside and I should definitely stay in bed.

 

And this time… he merely put the plate there and now did… those things.

“… I meant your cook is terrible… this is probably the blandest soup I’ve ever tasted. I mean… it feels like there is not a single spice in there…”

I huffed.

Sir Israfil raised his eyebrows: “… I… must ask them to be a little more… careful? Like I said, we are… severely understaffed”

“Mh. Do that. And then… ah… the blizzard is over, yes?”

“Oh, yes, your highness, it is,” and he smiled again.

“… and I am almost healed… yes?” I asked with the the tone I needed to use with most older people…

“Ah… well… it still takes a lot of rest…”

“… well, but after the rest… I will go home, right?,” I made the tone even lighter.

“Aaah… yes, well… we have to make sure you are not sick.. .and the weather is good enough… and… then we’ll see… alright? For now…”

“So I really am not home!,” I frowned at him.

“Ah… yes, of course not. You thought… oh no, that could not have happened,” he looked apologetic, a little bit, then he said: “No, you’re still some time away from home”

“But… we will go as soon as everything is alright… yes?”

“Well, people should come and get you, shouldn’t they? You can go with those, then,” and he smiled again.

“… you… are a knight. Shouldn’t… you bring me home?,” my lips twitched.

He chuckled a tiny bit and then half-shrugged: “Not in this case, no… it’s… not something I can do, no”

“What?!,” I sat up… and became dizzy right this instant.

He tapped my shoulder and I fell back into the pillows and then he petted my head… and I felt sleepy again. Was… was that…?!

He stood up grinned: “I’ll see what I can do about the cook,” he went to the door: “… sleep well, your highness”

And he left, closing the door.

 

What… in the name of…

WHAT?!


	8. Chapter 8

The journey was progressing… according to my expectations.

Every research beforehand had pointed towards such a progress. Everything went according to plan.

But now that magic had to be… more hidden than before… the travel would continue a little bit slower than before.

Also… colder.

Much colder.

I did not enjoy this countries weather. Why would someone want to live in such a cold weather.

The first opportunity I had, I pulled out five of my jackets out of my bag or requirements and tied them close around me. It… was cold.

Of course I had heard about snow.

It was white and fluffy and everywhere. Oh. And also cold.

Now I also knew it made the floor really slippery. If there was more of it. It was a mess.

But at least the streets were mostly snow-free. It was a bit of a relief.

My horse would not slip and fall to its and my untimely death.

At least this much was perfectly acceptable: The horses in this kingdom were very well trained and actually reasonably priced. I could take a horse, ride to the next station and take a horse that is not tired after inspecting the one I brought.

Fair, really.

I also was not disappointed by their better use of… well… everything.

If you went into their houses, they actually kept the cold out. The windows were just as tight! It was insulated really well. And their fire stone mechanics worked amazingly well.

I’m pretty sure there were other things, too.

They just… did all things without magic. And it was… definitely interesting.

I mean, sure it was easier with magic, but how they did it without? Props.

It was probably more fair to the people with a less exotic ancestry, too.

Fact was: They had a greater need and therefore also a greater understanding of archiving knowledge and… that… was a thing I wanted to get my hands on.

I mean. Sure. Marrying the princess was certainly a… thing you could do. But… I was not that interested in marrying the princess… it was more about the royal library.

And I would merely talk to the dragon. I would try to free the princess and… actually have a chance to talk to one of these ancient creatures.

I studied their etiquette and their way of dealing with humans and I was almost certain this kingdom merely angered the dragon… and had no actual way of talking to them, since they were still adamant about the non-existence of magic.

So… I would try my luck.

After all, the King and Queen had declared that they wished their daughter back ‘by any means possible’ from the dragon residing in the 'Marble Castle’. Which was – I checked – a ruin, in the next country over and not previously known to be a dragon fortress.

Of course, dragons usually go where they please, therefore I was not saying anything about it.

I simply had to check in the castle of the royal family, receive the most recent – and more detailed – information about the case and then… I could head the way for the dragon.

I was somewhat glad there was not an overwhelming flood of people heading for the castle. Only some knights here or there – noticeable, but not too much - , even when I finally reached the city. Then again… the message took three days to reach us… and I took three more days to finally decide to go and make the journey (one did not decide from one day to the next to go confront a dragon) and then I took another week to get here, so… maybe the biggest rush was already over.

The capital itself? Well, there were the usual stares of other countries regarding my skin colour, but generally… people were civil and only marginally overpriced me for being a foreigner. It was one of the more pleasant stays, really. Even if the food was a bit bland… I could always refine my food. Which I did. In secret. I didn’t want to insult the cook of the house.

The next day – day fourteen of the Missing Princess – I registered myself and… it was actually neither complicated nor stressful. I got a map, my name and age written down and the weather forecast for the next week. There apparently had been a blizzard around the Marble Castle three days ago and it was ill advised to travel there if the weather was like that. There were taverns that were a days march away drawn into the map, so that would be helpful.

I had decided to take one last break under a proper roof in the capital and had taken residence in one of the lesser visited taverns on the outskirts of the city. I took one of the tables for myself – the owners were slightly suspicious of me, but needed the customers – and spread all the new information there, making notes and plans on how to proceed. Also planning the actual bartering with the dragon.

In the middle of it, I tried to be discreet while I put some much needed pepper in my beef broth. I must have been in rather deep thought, because a knight sat down across the table, eyeing my doing curiously.

He was… a strange one himself. Pale as a ghost, silver hair tied into a knot at the back of his head, wearing chainmail and now a… disarming smile. Somewhat. I at least had to assume it was one.

And then he spoke: “Greetings, my name is Sir Israfil. Am I right to assume you are a fellow dragon seeker?,” there was no hint about his intentions… or his stance on the matter. Huh.

I did not have much choice but to answer truthfully, seeing the damning evidence around me: “Well met, Sir Israfil, it is true. My name is Azarang… and I am indeed seeking out the mythical kidnapper. Mayhaps even the safe return of the princess, no?”

His smile got a little bit wider and he nodded: “But of course. See… since we do have the same goal… and most of our way will also be the same… I don’t know about you, but… hunting for two is just as much work as hunting for only one traveller… and… I know it must seem rather daunting to ask, but… I am good at building a camp and capturing, but I am absolute rubbish at preparing a meal. And what I just saw… well… there is also safety in numbers with two travellers”

I raised an eyebrow at that… and tilted my head slightly: “Usually it is more work to hunt for two instead of one… but if you wish to hunt for both of us,” it would be entirely welcome. There were some weird animals on the loose here. Besides. Staying close to the fire instead of hunting? Fine by me.

So I finally returned his smile and held out a hand: “The more, the merrier! We’ll find our way to the last safe tavern and then see how we part ways. Sounds fair?”

“Very fair,” he clasped my hand, then looked me in the eye. Very green, those eyes. Somewhat rare. Err… he continued: “I will provide the meat and you make something tasty of it… yes?”

I shook his hand: “Sounds like a plan!”

And he grinned: “Perfect”

… and then everything went dark.


	9. Chapter 9

When I woke up, I felt arms around me, and a hand moving on my back.

And I was laying on something. A bed. And… I got pulled even closer to something that smelled like… a herb-garden.

And a voice whispered: “Sssh, you’ll feel a bit sick in a moment, calm… ssh…”

What was he sa-

And in this moment I gagged and my head spun. Shit.

I grabbed onto the fabric of the herb garden’s shirt and held onto it until I felt better.

I thankfully could calm down and swallow enough to keep everything down. The hands on my back helped.

Soon enough, I breathed calmly again, the other spoke calmly: “Shhhh… you’ll recover just in a bit… shhhh…”

I sighed, because… it helped and I… just felt better.

But then I said: “This… is not the tavern,” because it wasn’t. And I wanted and an explanation.

He let me up. And… yes, it was Sir Israfil. Right in front of me. It was one Sir Israfil who looked a little apologetic and said: “Well… yes. That is true”

I waited for a few seconds… in which he looked conflicted.

“… and now I am – we are – not”

“Err… yes,” he once again looked apologetic.

“Where are we, then?,” because it was pretty dark around. It got better, but… the windows were closed. With wood. So there was not much light in this room.

“…the Marble Castle,” apology was written on his face.

I squinted at him: “What happened to hunting and cooking together?,” because… that had been the thing he had invited me to. And it was… the first thing I wanted off the table.

And it seemed to jog his brain, too: “Right! That is actually still a thing, lets go!”

I blinked. What?

“I.. am supposed to cook?”

“Yes,” he stood up. I took the blanket that had been… around both of us and wrapped it around me. This castle obviously was cold.

“Hey, you said you would,” which was… true, but also somewhat ridiculous and-

“On our way to the Castle. And we are at the castle. And you still didn’t tell me how we got here”

“Via teleportation spell,” he simply stated that. And nodded.

“… because that is normal in a kingdom without magic,” because I wanted to stay reasonable, really, I did.

“Well, a dragon teleported us,” he shrugged.

“… the dragon that kidnapped the princess teleported a knight and me into it’s castle…” because that made sense, yes?

“At first, there was only me… but the princess needs to eat. And… I… honestly, can’t cook. I never was interested, never needed it, but… the princess really needs to eat,” he looked very sorry again.

“… you… brought me to be the princess’ cook,” I clarified, in a dead-pan voice.

“…possibly? It would be rather useful,” there was a shrug attached.

“How about we… save… the princess?,” because that was what we were here for.

“Ah, see. There is a really gigantic, stubborn and violent dragon in the middle of this castle that wishes to keep anyone from doing that. But… like this, we can explore the castle. And actually get to know the princess. Which I think… is an advantage,” he nodded.

“… I… was not actually planning on marrying the princess?,” because she was sixteen and… well…

He stared at me. And frowned.

“What? I wanted access to the Royal library! I’m a scholar! Not a politician! Or a child-marriage-person!” I scowled back.

He rolled his eyes and shrugged: “Well, alright. For now… I think there is a library in this castle. Still blocked off, but it could still be preserved, so… stick around for that?”

I blinked. That… uh… that would be… nice?

Now he stared at me some more and said: “The kitchen is warm, by the way”

“… alright, that… uhm… so… you… did the princess not eat this whole time?,” I slowly went out of the bed and… wrapped the blanket around me. It was cold.

Then I stood: “Wait. Where is my stuff?”

“Ah… I should hope it’s in your room next to the kitchen and… no, she has eaten… but… she seemed… ill at ease with it,” this did not sound trustworthy.

“… then I’ll look for my belongings first and then… we will see what we can do for the princess,” I also needed to figure out if I was actually in the Marble Castle. Or if this knight was merely a herb-garden smelling lunatic.

Go with the flow, go with the flow. For know. This was also a knight. However he got rid of his chainmail this fast, too.

Maybe it was dragon magic.

In this case, it’s… probably for the best to go along until I got a proper chance to talk to the dragon.

For now… the silver-haired knight – there was a lot of hair hidden in this bun of his – led me through a few hallways. And… it got slowly warmer. Until we walked through a door and were in a warm kitchen.

Like… this was… really comfortably warm. And I shed my blanket on one of the tables.

And then I saw… a pot, a bubbling one. And narrowed my eyes. There was a line that… indicated that this huge pot had been much more full before. Like… a lot more.

“… how long has… this been cooking?,” I grabbed a spoon and blew on it, wanting to try.

“Uh… three days for now,” the knight blinked.

And I kind of wanted to already put it back in. But I tried. And my face scrunched up. This… was foul.

“Is… is there…. is there even salt in there?,” it was overcooked and flavourless and there was fat swimming on it and it tasted… stale and… I spit it back in the pot.

“… uh… no?,” he looked a little concerned.

“… maybe you can… use this… rest of meat in there to bait some animals,” I suggested, even if I somehow doubted anyone wanted this, “… otherwise, please… dispose of this… ‘food’,“ I tried to put all disgust I could muster – and it deserved – into the words.

“I… err… sure,” he frowned and grabbed the blanket… and the pot… and… left the room.

Alright, he must have gotten it here like this, too.

Looking around, the kitchen was… intact. There was, of course, marble everywhere. Strange plants were sometimes growing of cracks. And there was cast iron. Plus many cooking utensils like knives and pans and a proper stove and… of course… the fire that he had used to just… put a giant kettle on. And throw an… uncut piece of meat in.

He should never be allowed close to a stove again. Ever.

Lord.

There were also a few doors leading from the room.

He… had said one of them was supposed to be my room, right?

I looked in and… the third room had an… actual bed. A bed with a mattress. And several blankets. And… pillows. It… certainly was a comfortable room. And had all my things in it. I checked – everything was there, including my bag of requirements. I was relieved. Whatever was going on, at least the knight seemed to be honest.

And… apparently also back.

I startled when I went out and he stood there. He just tilted his hand a bit: “So… I… did hunt a few animals already…?”

“Ah… yes, please, skin a… a rabbit?,” the knight nodded and got to work.

And I… got the stove running and put a pan on it, getting the spices together to properly make a rabbit roastbeef.

Much faster than I anticipated, he brought over a perfectly skinned rabbit: “Should I also take the organs out?”

Remembering the previous… catastrophy, I waved him off and told him to get fresh water. He went. And I took about twenty minutes to make three portions of roastbeef.

Meanwhile, Sir Israfil got plates and let me spread the meat on it. One day, there shall be vegetables, but… not today, supposedly.

“So… you bring the food to the princess?,” he asked.

“Err… if you… if you think this is a good idea?,” I was not sure what she might think.

“Well, I told her I would find another cook and… like this, you can introduce yourself any way you want, so… yeah… you can get to know her, too. Just… walk down the hall and open the door. There she will be”

“So… you won’t be eating with us?,” because seriously.

“Oh, no. She… isn’t happy with me right now, so… I think it’s better if you talk to her for now. She’s just gotten over a sickness… ah… the dragon only thought of taking care of the captive princess a little too late, so… I was the one taking care of her and not immediately saving her somewhat… angers her, so… please, go ahead for today, alright…?”

I stared at him: “… you better explain that later”

“Of course, Azarang,” he looked – again – slightly embarrassed.

“Alright… I’ll go”

And so… I took two plates and knives to the room of a princess.


	10. Chapter 10

When this prick of the knight had left… I… actually felt like sleeping for a second.

Until I told myself that I had slept enough and if the knight would not help… I would just go for another person in this castle.

Someone needed to give me at least… information. Because knighty had been awfully stingy with that.

I waited a little longer and then finally left the bed for something else than… necessity.

Hrm.

So… I knew the window still closed off completely and I still could not look out – as if this was not at all strange – and there definitely was… marble. Everywhere.

And… cast iron.

Yeah.

And there are no people around.

So… yes… I… definitely was still in the Marble Castle.

I just hoped he got at least a few other people with him here. However he got rid of the bloody dragon in the first place.

…

I wondered why the hell can-warrior hadn’t just told her about finding a room.

… everything was just a little… strange.

Why in the world was this man not telling her what was going on?!

Did he think she was a delicate princess and couldn’t handle being in the stupid castle a stupid-ass dragon had brought her?! Seriously, some knights!

And… I… probably… did feel a bit… delicate when I stood up from the fireplace. Because Everything went black for a second.

Uh.

I… still could have handled being in the same damn place. I might even have waited in the stupid room, because okay, I actually was sick. Or not okay. But the stupid old men constantly try to cut her off from anything.

… even if I didn’t even know how old the knight was. He… had always been there, kinda. And smiled a lot.

Hrm.

Well.

Over all… my room was kind of small… the marble looked… like it was weirdly held together with… moss or something… there was a table and an… empty closet… and the fire in the fireplace looked like it would still burn for a few hours and I had a water pitcher. And a toilet. Of course.

I huffed and went to the door.

When I pressed down the door handle and it was locked…

I was a lot less forgiving for his stupid-ass ‘fatherly protectivity’.

“EY! You STUPID KNIGHT! You can’t just LOCK me in here?!,” until I remembered that I specifically waited until he was kind of away. And now I was here in a room that was actually kind of… sealed.

I… seriously needed to talk to this bloody knight.

… I saw how he might think I want to go off and also think it’s a bad idea, but… he could have just told me!

Whatever he had done to me kind of made me see his point, but… maybe it was just that I actually still was tired.

I grumbled and crawled back into my bed – still in my nightshirt. Which was dry but… dirty.

Ugh.

Curling up under the blanket… and possibly looking forward to better food… but… given I was still in ex-dragon-castle… I didn’t get my hopes up. Mrh.

Stupid ass dragon and stupid ass knight and… and stupid-ass grumpy ghost currently grumbling without actually being able to be understood.

Lord!


	11. Chapter 11

There was light coming in from the tiny gap from the window. So… it might even be day. Horray? Hrm.

The fire still burned merrily.

And I just stared at the ceiling.

Because mother-knight obviously didn’t want me to do anything else.

Bloody hell.

But actually… I could have sworn there was less moss on there than before. There was just a… black line on the marble. Did it… die and become black?

This was a weird castle. But well… a dragon had been here. Maybe they just mess things up anyway.

… the table and floor had black lines, too.

And looked more lined than cracked.

With a deep frown, I got to the table and poked a line. It was… sticky? A little?

Like… drying, but… sticky?

What in the world…?

I… really didn’t want to stay here too long. It was weird.

The boarded up and caged state felt… weird, but… I would not throw a tantrum and just try to pry everything open now. Especially not the window. I… didn’t exactly want the cold back in anyway.

I would wait.

For one day.

And talk to ‘Sir Israfil’ and give him a piece of my mind. And then I could go on to try and get out of here in a less dignified way.

There.

It sounded like a plan.

Hmph.

 

I didn’t have much to do in here… there were furs of all kinds laying about… and they were all soft… and… I didn’t know most of the animals they came from… which was slightly terrifying, too.

This castle was weird!

 

And then… it knocked.

I blinked and stopped stroking some… blue… fur.

Huh?

I almost wanted to tell him off, when I heard: “Your highness? Your dinner…”

That… was not the knight-voice. Huh!

“Ah… come on in!,” which was not the appropriate way to say this, but… I was surprised. I had raised my voice a little bit, and now blinked at the door.

When it opened, I was even more surprised. He was black!

And… my cheeks coloured a little, because… wow.

This was a tall man with black skin wore bright, lively colours and had golden tattoos that… contrasted beautifully. And he had such deep, dark eyes and… muscular arms showing under his rolled up sleeves and… that was a nice jaw line, not to mention the voice and… I blinked again and stiffened.

When his eyebrows went up and he averted his eyes, clearing his thought, I looked down on myself and saw my state of… undress: “OH!”

I pulled the fur from the wall to wrap it around my shoulders and general body. Now this obviously blue dead animal at least served another purpose.

“I… apologise, your highness, I… may I put down the food?,” he still looked away and waited until I gave him my okay until he inched further towards the table.

Then he proceeded to take off his coat, revealing a nice, bright, form-fitting shirt…

Mmmnnnh~

Then he spoke: “It… is not appropriate, but in this situation… I understand the wardrobe is limited…”

What? O-OH!

He held out his coat to me.

He… was right. It was not appropriate at all, but… I… was not exactly against getting his coat. I threw it over my shoulders and wrapped myself in it. I was immediately enveloped in the pleasant smell of spices and… something smokey and… wood and… a lot of fabric. And warmth. And just all-around pleasantness.

I pulled the fabric down under my chin and smiled at him, certainly still blushing: “… I… am thanking you… ah…”

“… Azarang, your highness, at your service,” he bowed lightly and it looked – against all my previous experiences with it - graceful, “I am the new cook”

So grinning could be attractive. Good. Good to know. Jepp. Good thing to know.

“Ah, pleased to meet you, I… am Princess Jibril,” I made the customary curtsy, “… but I assume Sir Israfil already informed you about this… and… I am very glad you could join the household,” boy, was I.

And then he laughed softly and it sounded like a light rumble. Damn. I looked away from him and down at the food.

Then he said: “I… can imagine. I had a taste of the last soup,” there was a wince under the words.

“Yeah… it was… an experience,” I smiled and pointed at the other chair and pulled the one in front of me out to seat myself: “Ah… sit with me? Let us dine together?”

“Ah, thank you, your highness” He nodded and sat down as well, handed me the knife and explained: “This… is a rabbit roast, I would have liked to add side dishes, but it was on short notice. I promise to make better use of the kitchen next time”

Meanwhile, I had cut off a piece of the already heavenly-smelling roast and just sat there with the piece laying on my tongue and… damn it was delicious. I needed to swallow due to excess saliva a few times. It was all kinds of spicy, and mom and dad might have hated it, but I… ooooh~ this was delicious. SO damn delicious.

“This is great,” I said after carefully chewing, savoring and swallowing. Because… it was.

He looked pleased. Mightily so: “Thank you, your highness”

“You’re very welcome,” I said and took in another slice. This was heaven after the last… WEEKS!

So we ate a little bit in silence, I needed to enjoy my food and calm my stomach, which made rather embarrassing noises from time to time.

After half of the roast had been consumed, I cleared my throat: “So… Azarang… you got hired on short notice? Yes? You… live in the area? I… didn’t see a lot of civilisation around”

His face made some… expressions, most importantly raising his eyebrows up high, and then said: “Ah… no, he - the knight – he caught me while I was… travelling. I was visiting the country and he caught me… seasoning my food and offered me the position on… yeah, short notice. 'said it’s important, got some side benefits, cooking for a princess and all…” he shrugged and grinned again. He can do that more often, I won’t complain.

“Ah, so… you actually come from… where?” I looked at him while I continued consuming my roast.

“I hail from Begrye… the northern edge of the desert… it’s been an interesting travel, I’ve always wanted to travel to your lands”

“Mhh…” I thought about it for a moment, then: “Hey, you are a 'magic country’, right? You actually believe in that stuff!,” I giggled a bit.

“Hah,” he grinned a bit lopsidedly and closed his eyes, “… yeaaah… we… believe in that, right,” he laughed a bit.

“Well, do tell me a little about your home!”

… and so he did. Told me about deserts and tents and – after I asked – that most of the people there had his skin colour and yes, his hair actually had naturally red streaks, they grow out like that, he showed me the roots. He in return asked me about the customs of my land. Sometimes about silly things like street maintenance and storage spaces and farming.

I was rather glad for my teachers this moment, it meant I could actually give him proper, correct answers. And he seemed impressed and interested. Heh, they had told me that all this stuff was important to know. Hadn’t guessed it was to have a proper conversation with a hunk of a man. Seriously. Damn.

When I asked about magic, he mostly waved it off or evaded the question. Ah. We might be able to talk again. Would ask some more, then.

After an hour of talking – and after I thanked him for his skills and the food again – he got up to leave, said something about needing to get properly settled in.

I then asked him to send over the knight, if he saw him, I had a few choice words for him, thank you very much.

He bowed and agreed and… this… was… rather nice. Really nice.

When the door fell into the lock with a click, I woke from my tiny daydreams and almost cried out.

But… no. That would be… embarrassing. That he knows I’m imprisoned like that. Like a child. Mrh.

Should have just followed him to the door. Hmph.

Well, Mr Knight would be here soon.

And at least he had kept his promise to look for a cook.


	12. Chapter 12

Freezing the whole way back, I was glad to find Sir Israfil in the kitchen.

At least the kitchen – and my room, too, actually, there was warmth coming from the floor! - the fire heated everything up. They burned very hot, always blue at the centre.

But… yes, the knight stood there and held a book in his hands. Of all things!

It was nicely bound and looked well-read.

He looked at me now, smiling gently: “I suppose the princess wishes to speak to me…”

“Err… yes, yes, she does. But… you know. She is in terrible shape! She needs a bath! And she needs clothing! She’s wearing a nightshirt! Did you ever give her a change of clothes? I had to give her my coat so she’s even covered properly! This is terrible! Even if she… does take all this remarkably well, I didn’t.. expect that,” really. She hadn’t actually been afraid.

“It might be because she does not know the dragon is still here…”

“Wait. What?,” that… didn’t sound right?!

“Ah… well… see… I am the only knight the dragon allowed in. And I… am basically in charge of taking care of the princess now. I found her in a very sorry state. And put her in the room you saw. I didn’t think it would be good for her healing process to tell her she was still very much a captured princess,” his voice said he was being perfectly reasonable. But…

“So you… just gave up the saving of the princess, put her in this room and… that’s it?”

“I thought it would be best to make sure there actually is a princess to safe, yes. And… you wanted to talk to the dragon as well, didn’t you?,” still very gentle and calm…

“… yes,” hmph.

“So,” he held the book out towards me, “This is a book about herbs. And spices. So… write down which ones you need? Or want? I think I can grow a lot of them in the Greenhouse. Also any other plants. Write them down and I’ll see what I can do. And… well, I think I should see the princess, now? Maybe tell her about the situation now,” he smiled some more.

“Aaah, wait. Clothing. She needs clothing. Is there any?,” because… I was glad for the book, certainly, but lets not forget this huge problem.

“Ah… I… suppose not…”

“Well, I have some fabric in my bag… you could probably pick up a seamstress?”

He stared at me for a moment, then… scratched the back of his neck: “… I… will think about it. For now… please make a list, there’s an empty sheet inside the book, a coal-piece next to the stove… I’ll see what the princess says,” he shrugged and waved while he left.

This knight was kind of on the odd side, was he not?


	13. Chapter 13

I was left alone at the table. Even the knife taken away again.

The bloody knight took ages to show up. Hours! I was pretty sure!

… not that there were any clocks. Or candles. Or sunlight. To… you know… tell the time.

Hrm.

I wrapped the coat a little tighter around me.

Sure it was warm enough, but it smelled… different. Exotic, somehow… but somehow also familiar. It was a weird feeling. But… well… it mostly belonged to a hot guy and that made it extra-awesome, additional to the nice fabric and that I finally had some clothes!

I was grumbling when the door handle was finally pressed down and the knight walked in, all smiles and beanpole and almost white.

… I bet if I poked him with a stick he would fall over. Or trip over this mile-long hair of his.

“You know… Azarang has a thing called manners, you could learn from him,” because seriously, he did not even knock! Neither had he ever cared about me being almost bare! Awful knight!

“I’ll… keep it in mind, Princess Jibril, I apologise” I could hear the capitalisation.

“And what’s up with you being all obnoxiously vague about everything. You could have told me I’m still in this old ruin! You should have let me out of the bloody room for certain! And you should have gotten me clothes! You seriously… should have gotten my folks here by now, too! How long have I been here?! A week?”

He inclined his head: “Two weeks, actually…”

“Two weeks! Well, I’m fairly certain there are enough knights of my own court that should be here by now! Did you not send any message?! What kind of knight are you?”

He remained calm and shook my pillows, smoothing over the blankets: “Mh, there are messages sent, actually. Quite a few. All the lands – not only your kingdom - is looking for a saviour of the princess, that will free her from the clutches of the dragon, receiving her hand in marriage and all that” he rolled his eyes a bit.

“Wait. What.” - first of all, marriage? Really? I frowned at the prospect of having to marry Mr. Beanpole.

“The dragon doesn’t care much for it, so… the marriage-thing shouldn’t be a problem,” he continued to air the blankets a little.

“What. You… you said the dragon is gone! You put me in this room and all!,” what?!

“I said you are safe, which you are. Perfectly safe. No one is going to mean you any harm. If you try to free the castle your clothes might get in trouble, but… otherwise it’s perfectly safe”

“WHAT?! You are a KNIGHT! That’s what you’re THERE FOR! Getting RID OF DRAGONS! You have ONE JOB and you’re not even getting THAT done?! What the HELL?!,” Now the marble chair behind me had toppled over. And my knees hurt, but… it was worth it.

He… only sighed: “Actually, the task of knights is to keep peace in the lands… we are there to represent the presence of the king – any king, in my case – and go on missions. This particular case is… special. I thought it would be better to ensure your safety. A dragon can not be ‘beaten’. Therefore… this was the next best option”

My jaw was open and I shivered during this LUDICROUS explanation!

“YOU DECIDED TO KEEP ME HERE?!”

He thought for a while, basically unmoved, then: “… and make sure everything you need, yes”

“YOU IMPRISON ME HERE?!”

“I… will now leave the door unlocked and you can roam the castle. You… seem healthy enough,” he nodded approvingly.

I just stared at him. What.

“I’ll bring you an assortment of clothes soon, I apologise for the lack of attention up to now…”

I stared some more.

“…well, I hope the roast was good. I’ll see you shortly,” and made for the exit.

“YOU CAN’T DO THAT!”

“Well… I… only keep you safe and sound. The dragon does the most of the things?”

“YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE RID OF THEM!”

“Ah… well… I’d like to be, certainly… alas… no, it’s impossible,” he sighed again. And waved me good bye, “Good night, Princess Jibril”

“YOU CAN’T DO THAT!,” he shrugged. And left.

WHAT.


	14. Chapter 14

The next person I saw was the princess.

She came stomping into the kitchen, head held high, shoulders squared and outraged. Even with the rather scrubby look, she looked every bit a princess. Not… exactly used to things not going her way.

“Have you… did you know that the dragon is here when you agreed to work in this castle?! For ’Sir Israfil’?! Did you know that? That he can’t even do the one job we take travelling knights in for?!”

She sat down on a chair next to the fireplace and looked as upright and royal as the came, even with my coat wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

“And he just… he just says it like it’s nothing! That we are trapped here! With a dragon! That kidnapped me! He just gets in and tells me and leaves again! What kind of use does a knight like that even have?!”

There certainly was a lot of fight in her… and currently she was simply done with everything.

She had interrupted me while I was making a broth – there was nothing in storage, so cooking the rabbit bones would make for a proper soup-basis. And… right now… I tried not to smile – or feel homesick - at how much she sounded like one of my sisters. The same kind of righteous fury. Maybe a little less firey, but… that was to be expected. It still… squeezed my heart a little.

She continued, though: “Not that he has any manners, either! But… you know… there is a dragon here. Still! And he didn’t even tell me about it!”

I shrugged with a bit of a half-hearted smile: “Ah… I have to admit… I… did not know I would be that immediately confronted either,” which was the truth. If not a little bit of a stretch, “… so I can feel with you, really”

She was not happy. She grumbled, actually. And: “… we have to get away from here, and away from him and… this is all stupid, why in the world did a dragon kidnap me?!,” it was more or less brooding. I supposed even though she seemed well put together, it… was definitely stressful.

“You’re right, they are not… known to do that… anymore,” they really weren’t. And they were mostly civil, too.

Not that I tried to talk to the dragon yet, but from what the knight had said… well… it was better to be cautious for now, there would be time for this. I would have time to look and prepare.

“See?! I mean, what the hell! I slept in my room and suddenly… DRAGON! Giant and blue and awful! And then he dragged me away! What in the world!,” the spark was back. Reminding me even more of my youngest sister. Except that she would have actually sworn.

“… it might be… a good idea to… figure why that actually happened, then? I mean… really, it might be good to know,” I surprised myself by how concerned I sounded…

“Yeah, but what does a stupid dragon tell you! It didn’t talk to me, just huffed a lot of air and squinted. Like a big lizard,” which was… unfair. Because she was the head of state of a non-magical kingdom. Of course she didn’t hear anything…

“But I’m sure we can run away! We can both escape this prison and not get eaten by it”

“… that… does really not sound too great, why… would you think,” ew…?

“It carried me in it’s mouth! In it’s mouth! It’s horrifying!,” she shuddered a little, “All full of teeth and slobber and fire and… yeah, I’ll… I’ll make a plan to get away! I’ll make a plan and prepare and then we’ll all run away!,” she looked at me with big eyes… they were still a little glassed over… or it was the fire, but… I hoped she didn’t have fever anymore. I was worried.

“Well… for now… we’re not getting eaten. And you already tried escaping, so you know a bit already, but… recover from the try and then… we’ll see what we can do, all right, your highness?,” that brought a tiny smile to her face. And I felt a bit better.

And she seemed to calm down a little, too.

“Mh. That… yeah, of course,” maybe noticed she was a little weak, still… “… that… smells good, actually…”

“Ahaha… ah… this is nothing actually… nothing much… just a brooth… but… you’re hungry?,” no one should be hungry if I was their cook… and we actually had things to spare.

“… maybe a taste?,” she sniffed at the pot and her stomach grumbled slightly.

I filled her a tiny bowl.

“Good appetite,” I smiled at her. It was a strange situation for everyone.


	15. Chapter 15

I’d gone to bed after the princess had bid herself goodnight – it’d been a pleasant conversation… and she likes a good broth, appreciates a good basic, I was pleased - and actually… the bed? It was a little heavenly. Certainly the softest bed I’ve ever slept in. It was a bit strange, having such a soft bed, but… it was nice.

And then… I got up, the kitchen still smelled of my own spices, there was a cold room full of dead, now frozen animals – so enough food for a few weeks – and I had the opportunity to work up my confidence to actually… talk to a dragon. Maybe even save a princess.

It… was not an ideal arrangement, but… I’d been in worse situations and… certainly in less interesting ones. Ones with less… opportunities.

I might even have access to a library! Maybe not in my language, but… there were ways to learn… if I was lucky and the books survived since… well, a long time.

When I looked around, I noticed the glaring absence of the list of herbs that I procured for my knightly friend. Must have taken it at some point at night.

For now… he was not to be found.

At least I couldn’t… looked a little around and… went to places that did not go into… noisier areas. When I looked around, I heard steps on one of the towers. And laboured breath. The princess was running, apparently. She really seemed to prepared for escaping the dragon.

She… got an A for effort. I somehow doubted it would work, but… she tried. She was a determined young princess.

And I… I prepared the next meals, because breakfast and lunch and dinner were things that would happen. Maybe I can even make some honeyed fruits if I could get some ingredients for it.

And so… I worked the kitchen. It was a really well equipped kitchen, actually, in regards to knives and other tools.

We later had breakfast and then lunch. She told me about the interior of the castle and how it was very similar to her own – or any other castle she ever visited. Sure the defences were different and according to the environmental circumstances and that was clear, but otherwise, the basics were still the same. It was astounding how much she actually knew about the effectiveness of a household and how the ways were minimised and it was made sure that the servants weren’t seen. It was said very… matter-of-factly. She knew her theory, there. It was somewhat strange to hear. I hadn’t guessed the majesties actually concerned themselves with that. She, on the other hand got the widest eyes when I told her about recipes or fire-safety and how to preserve water and spices and… ration everything. She never had to, so it was strange, but she was especially astounded by the fact that there could at one point not be enough water. The ocean was close to her home, after all. So we both learned something, I guessed.

I was almost at the verge of serving dinner, when a somewhat dusty-looking knight appeared in my kitchen and nodded towards me with… gentle eyes. It was strange to say that, because he had always smiled, but this time he was… calmer. Looked somewhat less… distant? Maybe because he was less… white and pristine. I wouldn’t know, he smiled and said: “Come with me,” and beckoned me towards the door he just came through – it was actually one I hadn’t gone through before. It was leading towards a hallway that had looked broken in, so I had disregarded it.

But he took my hand when I didn’t come fast enough and pulled me through the cold hallway and then opened another door to… a room full of earth and herbs and… he… this… this was a garden. And it was huge. And there were tiny trees. And there were… herbs. Many herbs. The air was full of them.

And then I looked at him and he had the list in his hand and rubbed his eye and looked back at me: “Yes, so, all the herbs you gave me, I can tell you where you can find them here in the room. I mean… not all of them are ready to use, you have to… dry them,” he said these two words in a strange voice, but caught himself then, “But I can help you with that, too. For now they have to root themselves, but they’ll be viable soon. And the ones you can use fresh, you can use. So, the rosemary is right down this aisle and on the r-”

“How in the world did you get these plants here? What is this place?! It’s warm in here! How… how did this happen?!”

He blinked at me: “I… like plants”

And that supposedly explained this. He looked very honest at this moment. As if it actually explained it. Big green eyes said so, but… that didn’t change the fact that it really, really didn’t.

I grabbed his shoulders – realising he’s really tall once again – and shook him a bit: “Sir Israfil. This place is insane. Where did it come from?”

“It… ah… it’s a Greenhouse. It’s heated from the ground… and it’s all enclosed and the air stays in here… and so the warmth and good earth and good atmosphere lets the plants grow… and I suppose… it’s just been here?,” he blinked. And raised his brow at the hands on his shoulders.

I let go, then said: “Err… that… does not explain how all those herbs got here… and the trees… and… everything”

“Ah… I… got sent around and got them from places and then… dug in the ground and overturned the soil and watered it and put fertilizer in that’s good for each plant and then wrote signs for all of them and now… well… now I’m done and wanted to show you,” he smiled again. He really was a strange one, “It should help you with the cooking”

He… was right, but: “… what… do you mean it’s heated from the ground?,” I frowned a little.

He shrugged a bit, there, patting a bit of dust off his clothing: “There is a volcano very close, so there’s warmth under the castle. And that is channelled under here. And so… it’s warm”

“… a volcano?!,” I sounded a bit too excited, probably.

“Ah, yes… it’s inactive, though. I am sorry, Azarang,” he did look apologetic, again. And a little more distant. Hrm.

“Mh. Well… nothing to be done about it… so… about those plants…” I gestured towards the plants.

And he came back to life, smiling lively: “Yes! Of course! See, there are two or three missing, but I can get to those, I’m sure, and… I got a few fruit trees, too. Oranges. And a fig shrub… and a date palm… and a few other things that weren’t on the list. And a Quince tree, that’s why it’s smelling so fresh in here, it’s quite a marvel. Don’t try to bite them, you’ll hurt your teeth!”

And he continued… dragging me around and showing me every single plant with… some sort of pride and joy. I would say. I might have talked about flames and fireworks… or incense… in the same way.

He was an odd one, but probably really does not into a kingdom with a magic ban either. Heh.


	16. Chapter 16

… I didn’t miss him. Definitely not.

Seriously, he could stay away for all eternity for all I cared…

But after three days, I asked Azarang about the missing knight. After all, we were only three people. It was hard not to notice him missing. He’d been in my room at least once a day, the creeper.

So, when I asked him, he’d told me that the knight made a herb garden. And that he’d told him he’d be back in three days, so any time now, supposedly.

Azarang was cute enough to actually worry about the guy. It was almost adorable. Even pouty was a good look for him. Mmmh.

When I later checked the ‘herb garden’, I guessed he wasn’t a knight… he was a gardener. Walking into the… 'greenhouse’, it felt like walking onto a summer field in a land that is distinctly less cold and richer in flora. Because no, these plants did not live here. At all. But somehow, they did. Even bloomed. There were bees!

… I petted one.

Anyway, the perpetrator was not there. At least I felt better. Health-wise and also about my condition. My legs had stopped hurting yesterday, too. Turned out it’s not wise to immediately start with ten jogs up and down a fivehundred steps tower. I could walk again. And Azarang had offered me another one of his coats. Which smelled just as nice as the last one. And was softer. I rolled up in it for a while. I thought I deserved some niceness within all this bullshit.

It was ridiculous how often I had to keep myself from reaching out and touching his face. He was almost black. I… this was not appropriate behaviour, but just seeing my hand and his skin at once was somewhat surreal. He didn’t have that problem. But well… I won’t do it and that’s that. Except if he allows me to. Well…

… I thought I would have some time to at least daydream a little, but… there he was. The missing gardening knight.

“… couldn’t you have stayed away longer?,” he just reminded me that he did absolutely nothing to get me away from here.

“Of course I could, but I have recovered another resource in the castle and I believe it will be of interest to your highness,” it was another matter-of-fact statement. He made a lot of those. I wanted to throw a pillow at him, but… I still was a princess.

“… does it involve leaving the castle and going home?,” at least I needed to make a point.

“No, it does not, it is a resource in the castle, your highness,” he didn’t even have the decency to feel chastised.

I stared at him.

He looked back evenly and said after maybe two minutes: “I believe you will be pleased by it anyway”

“It’s not leaving the castle,” why should I be pleased!

“It is not,” and apparently, 'why should he care’.

Jerk.

I stared at him some more until I realised he would probably stand there and let the cold in (even though it has gotten better… somehow… it feels less cold when I walk through the halls, I think the cracks get less, too. WEIRD place, like I said) all day if I didn’t move, so I pulled Azarangs coat tighter around myself and got up: “FINE! Go, show me whatever strange thing you want to show me!”

“Of course, your highness,” and he started walking down the hall like he had all the time in the world.

… I would have liked to ssay, but he walked pretty much in a comfortable, fast pace and I disliked that even more. Anyway, we came to the door I had looked into the first tame I came down the tower and… the hallway behind… wasn’t broken down anymore. I blinked.

“This… is open,” I pointed at it from under the layers of fabric and frowned.

“I said, I recovered another resource. It’s now available,” he nodded and held the door for me.

I walked through with a deep frown. It was actually clean and – while looking somewhat battered – it was… stable.

“I almost thought this went nowhere when the marble stopped, but it seems even the builders of this castle had enough of marble at one point. It returns later for a short moment, it showed me that I was still on the right track,” whatever he meant with that. After all, he couldn’t have hacked into stone! We had walked downwards, deep down into the mountain – at least it felt like it. And yes, it looked a little more cavernous than I would have liked. Less like a castle…

Hrm. Ten minutes later, he announced: “We’re here,” and had his hand on a handle, opening a door and holding it for me. Maybe he had learned some manners. Just ignored them most of the time.

When I looked into the room, I was floored.

There were some torches that lit the room up, but when there weren’t, there was a strange green-like shimmer. And there was… there was water. It was slightly steaming. And there were mirrors and a wardrobe with clothes and there were towels and an actual bath with… uh… with marble.

And water was trickling in somewhere and… and…

What the hell?!

After I walked in, he followed and gestured at the different items: “The strange light comes from luminiscent mushrooms. They are non-toxic and just provide and extra-light, you can ignore them. The sand glass is your limit for how long you should stay in the hot bath. After that, please cool off for a bit. You can clean yourself in the hot bath, though. It refills naturally – and takes most dirt with it. If you wish to clean yourself before, you can use the soaps over there and use the little stream to water the sponge. As for the clothes over there, they are all your size, so please, choose what you would like, the rest I will bring to your room when you are done. And… that should be it,” he shrugged.

“You… unearthed a bath… in the last three days,” I frowned at him. Even if it was a bit difficult not to stare. This was a bath. This was an actual, proper, big bath! Almost a thermae! And I’d only seen those in pictures.

… I suspected an answer, and it promptly came: “Yes”

Well, no use arguing: “… what… is that smell?,” because that was the only thing that was slightly bugging me.

“Ah, the volcanic nature of the heat for the water is… noticable, yes. It’s not dangerous. The soaps should cover it,” he nodded.

“… volcanic… nature?,” would there be MORE fire than just from the bloody dragon?!

“Yes. It’s inactive, but there is enough activity under earth. Again, it is not dangerous,” he smiled.

“… you have an answer for everything, don’t you?,” I said it just out of spite.

“No, your highness, but for some phenomena I can provide commentary,” I squinted at him when he said that. It had been flippant. I was almost sure.

But he inclined his head towards the bath: “I will leave now, I hope you enjoy,” he bowed slightly and… disappeared.

And I was alone in a pretty big bath under ground. That was warm.

I shed my clothes and went to first clean myself. I would feel dirty if I was soaking in water with all my sweat and… yes, dirt that clung to me.

So I sponged myself with cold water that flew down in a kind of practical little waterfall. I could fill a bucket and empty it over me. I shivered after, but I felt clean for the first time in… in weeks!

And then… I went to soak.

… as a reward for actually unearthing this – however, right now I cared little – I turned the hour glass before I went in… and then seated myself, like it was planned, relaxing almost entirely submerged.

It was warm. And water. And… even the smell was kind of reassuring now. Cleaning. A little burnt.

I made bubbles under water.

Maybe today wasn’t that bad. I felt almost relaxed.


	17. Chapter 17

After I’d watched Sir Israfil go back and forth towards and back away from the princess’ room. When I looked out the kitchen - and after him - I saw that he… carried a lot of clothing. Towards her room.

So he took care of that. That’s good!

… but apparently we didn’t get more company in the castle. It was a little bit lonely. Ah well.

I… hadn’t seen the princess in a while, either. Must be somewhere in the castle, exploring or training again. Sometimes she forgot the time, after all. Not too bad, lunch could be reheated for dinner, but still…

and the fact that he was back after three days and didn’t even see fit to greet me was… something else, too. The only reason I noticed was because his footsteps echoed though the halls. They were entirely different from the princess – measured and somewhat careful.

It was strange what you notice when there wasn’t much else to do but sit in a garden, cook and sleep. For example the way the cracks in the marble slowly closed itself. With black lines on the stone.

It wasn’t even subtle. One day my room had a giant crack on the ceiling and the next it was just… gone. I climbed on the table and ran my hands over it and it was smooth. There wasn’t even an edge. It was perfectly smooth and without a sign of crack. It was like the marble was just kind of… veiny now. Scratching didn’t do anything either?

Weird things, seriously.

There were also noises below my feet. I didn’t even want to know.

Sure I knew now that there was a vulcano and maybe the lava spoke to me, but still… weird.

Ah well, I continued to grind the wheat into flour (yes, he even brought wheat, it was a little excessive, but the ‘Greenhouse’ was too… I decided not to ask why it had been so close to being ripe, either, some things weren’t supposed to be questioned)

“AH!,” I turned around and saw a knight slowly pulling his hand back. The grinding was apparently loud enough to not hear his footsteps this time around.

“I am sorry, I tried calling out, you didn’t seem to notice,” he canted his head. Like he… does. Careful, still. And apparently held out another pile of clothes.

I… took it, when he didn’t take it pack back after half a minute. He didn’t apologise.

“Would you follow me?,” he said while he blinked at me. It looked like he guessed both was equally likely and that he would deal with both and didn’t even assume. He just looked blankly at me.

I shrugged it off: “Ah… sure. Why?”

The knight smiled at me and held the door: “This way. And… I thought you would like to facilitate my work as well”

As I walked through, I frowned slightly: “I… don’t like surprises, actually. The last two weren’t that bad, but… I do like things a little bit planned out… and I tend to wish to be informed”

“Oh. I see. How unusual. It is a pleasant surprise, how I indicated… does that alleviate the uneasiness?,” he now took the lead again, leading me down to where he had gone beforehand. Made sense.

“Err… no, actually, it’s still a surprise,” was that such a hard concept.

“I see. Well. Then: It’s a bath. I found a cavern with marbled pools that are fueled by geothermally warmed water, a mountain spring that leads down there - so cold and warm water - and bioluminiscent, non-toxic mushrooms. It’s a very good bathing area,” he nodded.

And I stopped in my tracks: “What.”

“It’s a bathing area,” he stopped as well… and then started to look concerned when I frowned at him,

“Is there something wrong?”

“Well… it certainly isn’t right,” because what?!

“I… uh… don’t know what you mean,” and he looked the part.

“I… you just… found this?”

“Ah, there was some work involved, of course. I was gone for three days. But yes, the area itself was preserved rather well. The accessories had to be gotten, but… otherwise, it was almost fine,” he nodded again. As he… does.

“… accessories.”

“Well, yes, brushes and towels and soap and… things like that,” he waved his hand, “And the path had to be cleared. It had collapsed”

It was a bit strange to hear, but well, we had self-repairing marble. And the draft in the halls had become less as well, so maybe even self-reconstructing marble. I… didn’t really want to ask right now, so I said: “So… there is a bath”

“Yes,” that seemed to have put him back on track. He looked all composed. Didn’t seem to take much. Mh.

“Well… I’ll look at it, then,” I looked at the pile in my hand and realised that it most likely were… towels. Huh.

Now he smiled again and I followed him to a door on the end of the hallway. One that was dangerously close to another door that lead… to a dragon that had been very suspicious and growly of door-opening activities of mine. I avoided it from then on.

This door? Apparently free of any growls.

Just a hallway, illuminated by torches. Nice and proper and actually clean. Didn’t he say it had been collapsed before? He… was quick with a broom, apparently.

And then he opened the second door and… there was water. Everywhere.

There were waternoises that echoed. All around and it was in the air. There was water in the air! The one pool was steaming enough to make it almost a fog in one side of the cavern.

And there was… buckets and a mirror and there were… uh…

“… did you get me clothes?,” I frowned. I had clothes. And… what?

“Yes,” he said. As he does.

I looked at him a little longer.

He was content to look back and say absolutely nothing.

“Don’t you want to… explain yourself? Why you brought them, why you thought it was necessary… anything?”

He thought for a moment: “… no”

I looked a little longer.

It didn’t help.

So I sighed and shrugged. Why not. So I had more items of clothing. It wasn’t a bad thing.

When I looked back at the pools, he started talking again: “Please, clean yourself with the cold water and soap first and then you can soak in the hot water… but not too long. Turn this hourglass,” he pointed, “When you get in and get out when it’s run through. It’s bad for you if you stay in too long. You might drown, so… pay attention, yes?”

I nodded and he… did the same and left with: “Have a nice time”

Errr… alright.

So I got out of and folded my clothes.

The cold water was really cold, but it was clean and constantly ran. From… somewhere on the ceiling. And disappeared to… somewhere on the floor. I couldn’t even really tell.

But I filled a bucked and poured it over my head and used the soaps laying around. Smelled of some kind of flower. It… seemed to actually work… and I felt clean afterwards, scrubbing myself with the stuff. It had been some time.

And then… the pool. I turned the hourglass and then went into warmth. A big pool of warm, steaming water. It… was a bit heavenly. And – for some reason – smelled like home. I relaxed in the water when I found the perfect spot to lean back on an incline and just have my head over the water.

Then I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, exhaling slowly.

Maybe… maybe this castle was weird, but it certainly was also… nice.

Haaaaaaaah~

 

 

“WHAT?! What is happe-,” I flailed my arms and looked around and…

I finally focused and saw… a knight in front of me. Who looked slightly disappointed.

He… held me up.

Half-up. He had even turned me. Uh… he had pulled me… half out of the water. Water. Right. I… might have slept… in? I looked at the hourglass. It… had run through.

“… err…,” at least I was half in the water, still?

“You forgot to look after the time,” he said. Matter of factly.

“I slept in,” it was a defence.

“That… is even worse,” he canted his head again, frowning slightly.

Admittedly, a bad one: “Well… you… saved me, so now you can let me… down”

He sighed, handed me a towel and did lower me again: “Please, now leave the bath, thank you,” and he left again. Alright, then.

Huh.

I took his advice, though. Leaving the bath was a good idea. I was slightly woozy.

And then… I found the brushes.

There were hair-brushes. Lots of them.

I frowned at them all. There seemed to be a trend of being a little bit excessive.

Ah well. I brought order to the soaked mess and dried myself with one of the many towels.

And then… went to the clothing-pile.

There was… mostly simple things, but proper quality in the fabrics. Durable, but comfortable. I could approve of this. There were some royal clothes and coats, too.

In red and blue.

Excessive.

But alright.

Something was a little weird with Sir Israfil.

Ah well, I grabbed a pair of pants and put them on. Comfortable enough. I looked rather well in them, too.

While I looked into the mirror, the knight opened the door again. He looked into the bath one more time, saying: “Right, I’ll be gone for a little again. I guess two to three days. Alright?”

I, in my half-naked state, answered: “Alright. Until then,” and he nodded and left again.

Definitely a little weird.


	18. Chapter 18

So I was stuck with food-duty once again. And her stories of her homeland were interesting – it definitely increased my interest in her kingdom’s library – and she wanted to know how flowy, stuffy clothing could possibly be good against heat. Also our hierarchy and how everything is actually governed. She has a sharp mind for a sixteen year old.

But well… the longer I thought about the things that had happened here… the more I suspected he was a little bit more than a simple magically inclined knight. I mean… I was okay with the teleportation. And maybe also with the greenhouse. But the whole plant-growing… and the clean collapsed hallway and the mushrooms on the walls and the well-fitting clothing and the… not-eating, actually? Something was… wrong. And I would talk to him the next time he… was around. Whenever that was.

In the meantime? I sometimes tried to look at the dragon. From higher floors. It always noticed and growled at me.

Once there even was a tongue that almost touched me. I was glad for my reflexes, there. And then it just growled and stared at me for a few seconds before it returned to it’s resting-position. At one point, it raised it’s head and jumped up and flew away.

I stared after it. It landed a little place away, reached down with it’s head, fire flared… and then flew to another place further up on the mountain… and then flew back, laying back down in the middle of the courtyard, looking self-satisfied.

… I… didn’t want to know what just happened.

The fact that I had an idea what happened was… not reassuring.

It growled at me for good measure and I remembered that making bread would be a good idea. This dragon was really not on the diplomatic side. Alright. Alright.

Just not thinking about it. Not thinking.

Huuuh… I got a few moments to look at the dragon, sketching it. It was a magnificent creature. Just not very… communicative. Beautiful. And apparently a fire dragon. A blue one. Whenever it growled, I… retreated to continue cooking.

… I mean… I liked the greenhouse and definitely the bath… and the kitchen smelled like home. But the dragon and a lying knight? Ah… well.

Otherwise I was not… too bad off. My basic needs were met. And I had nice places. Just nothing… to do. The castle was full of dead ends.

 

But, sure enough… after three days, the knight showed up again, this time? He showed up… at some terribly early hour. I didn’t exactly know, but it was dark. And he shook my shoulder.

“Mnnnngh?,” I did not want to be awake.

“Good morning, Azarang. Would you come with me?,” he touched my shoulder again.

“Mnnnnggggh,” I rolled to the side and slooowly moved one leg to the edge of the bed.

“Would you?,” he touched it again. He did like touching me. Lightly. Carefully.

“What time is it?,” I moved my leg over the edge of the bed. Slowly. Why would he…

He touched my shoulder again - he had soft hands - and he said: “Two hours before sunrise. But would you come with me?”

I grumbled: “Ugh… too… early… but… ugh… sure. Sure”

And then Sir Israfil took grabbed me and started carrying me bridal style.

What the hell.

And he did it with ease.

And I was just there and being carried. Through the whole castle. Up the stairs.

Until we reached a door. Then he put me down. On my naked feet. And… I expected the floor to be cold, but it… wasn’t. In the first floor. It confused my brain for a second.

“This is for you. Found it finally!,” he smiled. Brightly.

And I was still silent. Had been the whole way upstairs, too.

It is rather unsettling to be carried bridal style when you are a full-grown man.

And now I was in front of a door. I stared at it and then at his smiling self… I should talk to him about… the… the thing. But… I pressed the door handle down.

And inside were… books.

I stared more, suddenly a lot more awake.

“They are somewhat dusty… and some might not be in your language, but… that’s the library. It survived. And you might like it,” he nodded.

I stared a little more. I stared in both directions of the giant room. There are dozens of shelves. In both directions. I hugged him. There was not much reciprocation, but… I didn’t care. I disappeared in the library.


	19. Chapter 19

At least the castle could be called ‘inhabitable’.

The walls were intact, the hallways could be walked without freezing to death, the food was spicy and well done. There was a bed and a toilet.

One could live here momentarily.

And if Azarang told me about the different historical texts he found in the books he read, I could almost forget that I missed home with every fibre of my being.

Sleeping had been hard in the beginning. But since I trained and took hot baths my body shut down almost on it’s own at night. Almost not time to think of home.

It was maybe three weeks that passed.

The castle really was… repaired then. And every room could be passed through – one by one, the doors opened and I could run through them. One by one, the knight cleared out and then cleaned.

… and then the black lines came to fix the marble.

In every room.

I’d asked Azar to make some dry meat. After he looked at me a little funny I told him it’s food for travelling and he made…

… something fancy. I have no idea what it is, but it’s definitely not pemmican, cause it tastes good. Or our cooks didn’t know how to make travel rations. It might have more spices than meat, but if you throw it in a pot it was heaven.

Otherwise… the amount of scribbled-on paper started to migrate in different rooms. There were maps hung on some of them.

One side effect of the hallways being less cold was a decline in the amount of clothes Azar was wearing. I… did not complain about that, at least. In the slightest.

We both needed to flee somehow. And… hey… with the castle actually not broken, there were more ways we could take. And maybe he would find the layout of it in the library, too. That’s what should be there, anyway, he hadn’t found it yet.

But well, after these three weeks of continued uselessness, the knight was in front of me, dressed in a simple tunic, holding a scroll and leaning against a wall: “Greetings, your highness,” I stopped my run and stared at him. Whenever he came, he had something to say. Maybe this time it was 'lets go home’.

“… hello Sir Israfil,” I didn’t exactly have patience for him, though.

“I think I can help your efforts to get home. If you learn everything I have to teach you, you would be able to return home. Would you be willing to listen?,” he… his head did the canty-thing again. Urgh. I always wanted to say n-

“I do want to go home!,” but I also really wanted to go home.

“I see,” he blinked, “Azarang joins you for the lessons, if that makes it… better,” he was somewhat pertubed. Hadn’t expected that? I DID want to go home!

“Mh,” it was a noncommitical noise, but… it did make it a little better.

“Well, follow me then, please,” he smiled at me and nodded in the direction of the library. It somehow agitated me that he had gotten the exact time where had wanted to stop running. I would have liked to let him wait, but… alright.

It turned out we used a room next to the library. Pretty big, but also pretty, apart from a heap of pillows. And Azar, who sat on one of them and waved us both hello.

After the greetings, I quickly took another pillow and seated myself next to him.

Sir Israfil sat down with his back to the door: “Thank you both for joining me. I think I can broaden your horizon in a few aspects of the world and give you a better understanding of-”

“I want to go home,” I felt necessary to point out. Because I didn’t want understanding, I wanted home.

“That is something we will work on,” he smiled.

“Now?!,” because I wanted now.

“Ah… yes. We’re taking necessary steps for understandi-”

“Understanding what?,” I really had no patience for him.

“Ah, your magic, of course. You need to learn how to awaken and control it,” next to me, Azar nodded.

What.

This wasn’t even real.

…

The knight was just… really good at renovating. And things.

…

Said knight, meanwhile, pulled a blanket out of the heap of pillows and stood up, shaking it open while he sighed: “Yes. Your magic. I believe you are currently not even aware of it. Azar is, though, he grew up with the knowledge,” and sure enough, Azar nod-shrugged.

What.

“This is nonsense,” because… it is! Magic isn’t real!

“Ah… well… we’ll prove it in a moment, there is just a mome-”

And then the door crashed. The door crashed and the knight spread the blanket over to the space behind the door and then… there was a very angry person – wrapped in a blanket – pointing at his chest. Her eyes squinted, her tail – tail – flicking from side to side, there were horns on her head that formed a crown, and there were blue flames dancing on her skin. On it. Moving tattoos!

She was taller than him!

“You’re going to teach them and not me?!”

The knight… looked exasperated.


	20. Chapter 20

I… felt almost good about the stupid knight reacting to this… being exactly as he reacted to me: With… blankness. And a simple answer, after thinking briefly: “Yes”

It – she? - flicked her tail and stood up tall: “This… is a stupid answer”, and admittedly, I was on her side there.

He sighed and looked up: “No. It is possible for you to sit in. I won’t teach you, you are a dragon”

Which… which was…

“YOU KIDNAPPED ME?!”

The being turned with a single motion, the tail still whipping about, hitting the wall, too!

And then it looked at me and was… very blue-eyed. And grinning. And… the hair at the back of my neck was standing.

“YOU BLOODY STUPID LIZARD! LET ME GO!,” as if some stupid shaking would stop me! HOW DARE THAT CREATURE!

The grin got wider. It looked too wide. This creature was too much on so many levels. Taller, with horns – and many of them! - and tail and silverish-blue hair that was slightly curled, but looked sharp and… the contrast was too much – darkish skin and white, sharp teeth and so much movement, even when she’s standing still, the flames all over the place.

I stood and stared and hated the bloody creature!

Meanwhile, she stalked up to me: “Oh, little princess, do you really think I’ll let you go?,” she squinted her – very, very blue – eyes and tilted her head. With her… it looked terrifying: “You are the reason all the knights come here, bring all their little fortunes to this place. And your kingdom? They will come to their senses. They will pay for you. And that’s how it should be. How it always should have been”

And the stupid lizard – stupid human lizard – looked so bastardly selfsatisfied: “WHAT?! You DO KNOW these knights will KILL you, they will FIND A WAY! And WHAT THE HELL, you are INSANE! You just KIDNAPPED ME”

“HAH!,” - she stood straight and looked down at me. I was so close to kicking this stupid person in the shin! - “As IF they would EVER be able to-AH”

There were vines. Vines that wrapped around her waist and pulled her down onto a pillow. And disappeared. 

I would have paid more attention… if the same hadn’t happened to me in the exact same moment.

It…. it simply happened. The vines were there and pulled me down – I could do nothing about it - and then just disappeared.

Apparently, she couldn’t do anything about it either. Because she sat there just as well, now staring at the stupid knight, growling – actually growling – at him.

“How dare yo-”

“I think we now start the lesson about magic. Your highness… what do you think about the possibility of magic… and what do you think you are able to do?,” he huffed and simply pressed on.

“… there were plants pulling me down,” because someone had to say it.

“Yes, that would be one thing magic can be used for… do you think you could do that?”


	21. Chapter 21

There had been… disappearing vines around my body. And this person asks me what I can do with magic. There have been disappearing vines around the dragon. And for some reason this knight was still all calm and did not think the dragon would just murder him, but he still didn’t make any move to murder the dragon, so… so…

“Why aren’t you doing something about this one?!,” because it definitely was a valid question!

And the knight… sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Then he sighed and shrugged: “I am sworn to ensure the dragon’s and the dragon’s asset’s safety. There is nothing I can do ab-”

“YOU are a knight, you kill dragons and-,” he looked at me with an even expression. Like he did not at all take me serious.

His brow furrowed slightly as I didn’t speak on, and I heard a different voice coming from the side: “You… are of course right, princess… knights should… limit the dangers of dragon, but… it is almost impossible to beat a dragon. Attacking one without a plan would rid you of every one of your allies,” I looked at Azar. He looked uncomfortable about his own words.

… he even looked handsome with an unwanted blush on his face… and looking from the dragon to the knight to me. Just glances. Made his tattoos loo-

NO.

“I think you should just attack her an-”

The growl that same from the other side came from a being bigger than the one sitting there. The whole room shook a little bit. It was ridiculous!

This kind of thing didn’t happen! Magic is stupid and not real! I… I!

“Looking smaller does not mean I am any less myself. You didn’t make them run up to me when I looked like my other size,” she snorted. And I threw a pillow. This didn’t even make sense!

The pillow never reached her, this strange tail… put the soft thing against the wall. Pierced.

Would have liked to say I wasn’t intimidated by this display of dumb strength. But I was. I really was.

So I finally answered Sir Israfils original question while staring at the overly wide grinning dragon: “I think I can’t change sizes. Or put up vines. I also think all magic is bullshit,” then I rubbed my forehead and continued in a whisper: “… about as bullshit as being kidnapped and imprisoned by a dragon…”

This was not good for my nerves.


	22. Chapter 22

The princess was a very, very easily excitable person.

Or agitatable.

I would probably go with the latter.

There was the chance of a lifetime presented to us – magic lessons – this did not happen every day!

And from a dragon, no less. And someone who could… restrain a dragon. Apparently.

I would have my own private thought about this before I accused anyone of anything, of course… if a dragon did not want to be seen as one, they probably had a reason for it. And even if they didn’t… the ill-tempered one was only restrained by the ‘knight’. If he wanted to be a ‘knight’… who was I to accuse him otherwise.

… bloody dragon.

Anyway. They were… working on magic.

I had passed the test by… igniting a flame.

The dragon had turned into a human… and was a dragon…

And the third student… well… from what I could see, the princess had not a clue that she had even a drop of magic blood inside of her. 

The knight sighed: “… look. I know you are a magical being. It’s a simple fact. Visible to everyone who knew what to look for”

That obviously meant I did not know what to look for.

I did need those lessons.

“Magic doesn’t even exist”, she said. With a dragon sitting next to her. In human form.

Sir Israfil tilted his head and said: “Your kind is very good with mind-spells. I suppose it is fitting that you have a strong belief, no matter the proof against it. It is a good platform to start from. A strong mind is the basis of any magic”

Princess Gabrielle didn’t seem too convinced: “… did you even listen to me?!”

“I did”, and he has discarded her words as nonsensical and moved on. Not very nice. But that was apparently what had happened.

“Magic doesn’t exist”, the denial was strong with that one.

“Mh. If you wish to say so… I may even agree. ‘Magic’ is a phenomenon that can not be sufficiently explained. Everything your people consider ‘magic’ can be sufficiently explained. You open a portal to the dimension your ancestors connect you to and use this connection to conjure the effect you wish to achieve. Other portals can be opened with other connecting items”, he shrugged.

It… sounded a little bit strange, to be honest. And… I had not opened a portal in my life before. So… it seemed a little… out there?

The princess’ expression conveyed about the same.

“For example… you are connected to the realm of water. The connection is therefore already there, the only thing you need to do now… is open the portal. And if I use your connection, I can do…”, he turned his hand palm-up and a ball of water formed slowly, drops forming and separating, floating up to form a ball of water, constantly turning, “… this, for example”

The first thing the princess did was stick her finger in. And move it around in the ball. Mixing it.

She took her finger away and it… followed her: “EEK”

When she moved away faster, the ball let her go and slowly returned to the knight’s hand. She stared at it as if it had offended her. It probably had.

When I tried the same – I had come closer t take a better look at it – it did nothing of the sort. Stayed where it was.

“As you can see, since you have the stronger connection, parts of your own realm are drawn to you”, he concluded.

And then moved his hand over the ball, making it disappear again.

The girl looked more no more convinced than before this little trick.

“Well, it is my way of doing it, do you have any input, Sir Azarung?”, said the knight and looked at me.

I frowned slightly. And took a moment. Then I said: “Well… it’s… more like feeling the magic and… grabbing it”, I frowned and looked at my hands. I didn’t have to think about this, usually.

“You have it in your blood. And take it from there”

I closed my eyes and snapped my fingers, a flame dancing on my fingertips.

“It’s… coming from inside of you?”, I shook my hand to ensure I didn’t burn myself. It happened sometimes.

When I looked at her now, her expression was a lot more open than before, “… from inside of me?”

I nodded: “Yes, that’s how we are doing it, at least”

“And you all say I am magic?”, she frowned in the round.

The dragons nodded.

She crossed her arms.

“… nonse-“

“MAYbe… we find something in the library? There are a lot of books. That tell you about magic. And the theory”, not that I understood a lot of it, they somehow started from a different level, “We could study together?”

Dragons were not known as the most patient of beings. Better try this before they gave up on it entirely.

“… … alright”, she agreed.

Well. Then that was a thing now…


	23. Chapter 23

The library was… not all too helpful.

Of course it was helpful in general. It described possible objects that might be able to help conjure different things – shells for water magic, for example. So that was… supposed to help her.

And it somehow did, too. When the dragon-knight was around and told her how to concentrate, it worked. They had also taken to my approach.

Concentrating on themselves. The portal-theory was… strange.

So it was better to forget it right away. No problem.

Wielding my own power certainly had a much different feeling to it.

And when I concentrated a little harder, I could even feel the fire.

It was just a matter of never concentrating on it before. It was too… natural.

A little bit like tying my shoelaces, I assume. If I try to do that with more concentration, it didn’t work, but IF I did I understood how it held together… and I could make better knots in general.

So… magic is like tying ropes.

…

… my own book about understanding magic probably still had some ways to go.

But so had the princess.

She was still a sceptic at heart.

From not believing in magic to not believing in her own magic the full array was present. And It changed from day to day. Sir Israfil put a hand on my shoulder and told me I should have patience, her whole world was built with the knowledge that magic didn’t exist. A fundamental taken away is not pleasant.

I knew that.

It was simply frustrating.

She was a true sceptic.

After WEEKS of turning pages and once again conjuring up water with the blue dragons help – she was there most of the time now, apparently it beat sitting around outside – she once again flipped everything up. And declared it nonsense.

I mean… suspicion was all fine and good, denial is something everyone indulges in from time to time… but… she doubted my fire.

It…

I couldn’t even explain it. I was offended, really.

On a deeper level that I can’t even describe. Calling my fire ‘fake’ just… rubbed me entirely the wrong way. And I retreated to my room that day.

When I cm back the next day, her room was under water. And she said she maybe actually had some magic in her.

The knight took care of the waterlogged mess while we breakfasted.

So that’s how our days went… getting up, having breakfast – the knight or dragon sometimes disappeared to gather more supplies -, meditating on magic, consulting the books and gathering more skill.

And not getting any significant lesson, since the princess MIGHT be able o do SOME things by then, but it… didn’t come all that natural.

I could only hope there would be any progress sooner or later.

The dragon got… impatient.


	24. Chapter 24

“Supplies are getting low. I will leave to trade and hunt for a few days,” said Sir Israfil, bag already slung over his shoulder.

He looked like a noble, standing there. Those wide robes in green and silver, the same stripes of colours woven into his long braid. His expression regal as always.

Inwardly, I sighed for a moment.

Then I wondered where he even got these clothes from. And I hoped the answer was not simply ‘magic’, because that would mean I was one spell away from him without clothes and-

“You are going AGAIN?!,” an agitated princess spoke up.

Oh. Right. That… that would be an issue, actually.

“You did promise magic lessons. And mortals’ lives are short,” came from a certain dragon that… actually ate with them, now. Every day. And wrinkles her nose at everything. It was ridiculous.

Almost as ridiculous as that statement.

So… what?!

But Sir Israfil sighed and nodded: “That is… true… and I did promise. That is why I prepared for my absence. There is another cave under the castle. A mermaid is residing in it. She holds a key to this chest. The bath has another exit now, follow that way down and you will find the cavern. The chest contains a book of magic in a language you all understand and also embroidery supplies. So this is a reward for actually studying a magical creature as well. You have until I am back”

“Hah, as if there is any prob- EY!,” the dragon-human twitched back when the knight tapped her hand. Hah, that’s what she gets for turning her nose up and even closing her eyes.

“It would be no learning experience if you were to use your abilities. So you are magically sealed for the time being. The cavern is also too small to turn into you real form. Be careful, it is a somewhat dangerous endeavour. Good luck,” and with that, he turned around.

“You can’t do that!,” it sounded almost whiny. From a dragon.

I huffed. So I would have to be the sane one in this group again.

Because the princess suddenly looked star-struck.

“Mer… maid?,” a slow smile spread on her face.

A deep breath and a roll of eyes later, I stood and started to clean up the table: “I’ll pack a snack…,” because I was the cook. I would bring snacks. And maybe mermaids liked fish. Everything that helped, right?

“I’ll find an offering!,” and off she was.

I hoped she would at least come back for all of us to start together.

Our local knight, meanwhile, had left without much fanfare. I heard the clapping of hooves in the courtyard… which begged the question where in the world we actually had horses. But… well… the castle was large and for all I knew, he probably captured one last week… or something like that.

It was a bit concerning that I went with the flow like this, but… my stay in this castle was somewhat weird, okay?

Michelle rolled on the floor, tail swiping through half the room. She looked slightly constipated.

“… are you quite done?,” because yes, she still was impressive, but mostly in her dragon form. And she was a spoiled brat. With a fighting spirit.

Now she laid there, sprawled out. Still in the way.

“I don’t like magic seals,” she grumbled.

If I hadn’t already tried the last time this happened, I would try to knock her out right now. Unfortunately, her strength stayed. And her impenetrable skin. So… I simply stepped over her to get back to the stove. With another sigh.

I would be more annoyed if I didn’t have a million tiny siblings.

The language of annoying little people was apparently universal.

This little person now looked at me from the floor: “What did you burn last night?”

I stared down at her for a moment. Her expression was curious.

Well… if it kept her out of the way…

While cutting up the fish from the cold-chamber (however that worked), I answered: “… resins and some of the herbs from the greenhouse. It seemed a good mix”

She nodded and sad in a solemn voice: “It was. The fire was delighted.”

“Hrm,” I… could agree with that, at least.

And then she laid on the floor for a while, all silent. And ground her teeth a little.

“… can you burn it today again? Here? In the evening?,” she asked.

I raised a brow and looked at her, but finally shrugged: “Sure, why not?”

“Hrm,” was the content sound.

I felt approved of. Which was… strange. Because it felt almost like a physical thing. It raised hairs. Dragons are weird, man.

I heard the tail thump on he floor while I prepared our snacks. And possibly the mermaids. Who knows.

 

After about twenty minutes, the princess showed up with… jewels. Wherever those came from… and a gutting knife. Because she apparently was a more practical person than I expected.

And now she… bounced. On her heels.

“I know you will do what you want anyway, but… we should go down together. He did say it would be dangerous,” I said while I handed her her package.

Some… expression went over her face before she made a… a face and looked away: “Well… well, fine, so… are we ready yet?”

I… have gotten through to her? Impressive.

“I GO FIRST!,” came a voice from behind me.

So much for… making a plan. I put my hand to my eyes and sighed, while an overeager dragon stormed past us to the cavern.

…

At least she would not actually be in danger at all.

“HEY! Wait for me!,” the princess hastily stuffed her food into the bag and ran after her.

I frowned and then… ran after them, since… as annoying as they were, they should not run to their untimely deaths’ at any moment.

It was ridiculous, they were both on their way down, not even thinking again – or regrouping – before they took these new stairs from the bath.

… as far as I remembered, there hadn’t even been a sign of this. No door, no nothing.

But… I heard feet going down, so I go after them, at least to stop them!

It was… pretty claustrophobic, going down, too. A relatively small space. But with a railing.

Safety… first?

I really did not want to think too much about it.

So… I continued on my way down, as fast as my feet could carry me and listened for the footsteps of the others and they… slowed, thank the gods.

And then I heard… music.

The… most beautiful, ethereal music I’ve ever heard.

I had to get there. Now, now this very second.

And so I ran.

It was far too far away.

Just why wasn’t I there yet?

When I met an obstacle, I simply shoved it away. To the side of the tunnel, I wanted to move on, wanted to be close to this wonderful sound, only wanted to see what made these beautiful sou-

My wrist was grabbed.

And held.

I tried to pull away, but was only held tighter.

I grabbed the railing to pull further. My shoulder hurt a little, but I simply wanted to move on. I needed to go there.

It was important, why could I not-

 

When I blinked awake, the music was gone. The music was gone and I felt like it was the greatest loss of my life. I immediately went to go and search for it. There… was something in the way. I blinked and stared at it. These were… bars?

Bars everywhere?

I frowned, looking around.

Noises came back.

“-under it, you have to do it, understand?,” a vaguely familiar voice said, it was not very beautiful, though.

“He’s looking at us, he’s just snapping out of it!,” another very ugly voice said.

I dismissed it, trying to find a way out… and started pulling at the bars.

It did not matter, I would find the voice again. That beautiful harmony, this wonderful thing will return to me. Soon.

It was hard, fighting against those bars.

I fought and fought…

And then… I got a headache.

A terrible headache, bad enough to let me black out.

 

When I woke up, I saw princess Gabrielle, her hands in front of her mouth, looking shocked: “I… I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that, I am so so so so sorry, Azar, I didn’t mean to-”

“He always looked like that, underneath all the glamours, calm down”

I frowned.

The princess gasped.

I rubbed my eyes.

And then… stopped rubbing, because… because it was… a paw?

A paw?!

I stared at the taloned… taloned…

When I felt the headache I reached up, reached to my head and… horns?!

I…

I blanked out again.


	25. Chapter 25

“… don’t care what you say! I fucked up! I need to reverse this! This is horrible!,” said the princess’  
voice.

It was muffled.

And I grumbled into the pillow.

Wait. Pillow?

I lifted my buried nose and blinked.

Seemed like I was… in bed?

I blinked again

What the heck? Weren’t we on the way to… to a mermaid? And…

Bloody hell I had a headache.

So I dropped my head back in the pillow just in time to hear Michelle finish her whine: “I tooold yooou, he always looked like that. Just because you couldn’t see it didn’t mean it wasn’t there”

“But I have to turn him back, it’s all my fault!”

I slowly moved my head to be able to breathe through my nose, chin slowly inching forward until itmy nose reached over the rim of the pillow.

… and then I blinked.

It… was kinda bright.

Like… my room was usually lit by candles and torches and things… and now… it was… bright.

Slowly, I remembered. Right… I’ve had… paws.

When I moved them to my field of vision, they were… still paws.

… I somehow thought I might have more of a problem with this if I didn’t have such a freakish headache.

“- natural! Besides! Why did he blank out if it’s ‘all natural’, huh?! There is nothing NATURAL about that! People’s faces don’t just burn!”

Oh. Okay?

If I held my paw closer to my face I… did feel something closer to my forehead.

… was a small flame, though. Barely sensed it.

Well… if it was part of me… maybe I… couldn’t.

“-is bad for your head. He was under it, Gabe. No way did he got off scott free! That was a full blown mind control,” there were some affirming noises after it.

“Then it’s even more important that we look AFTER him! Let me in!”

“No, princess, he needs rest. Mortals are weird, but that’s pretty universal: Brains don’t take well to sells and they best recover on their own. And keep your voice down. He might hear you like that”

There was a loud huff and a noise of someone sitting down.

My ear twitched.

And for once, I agreed with the brattish dragon. Being alone seemed the better choice. For now. Why she thought they were in any way silent was the other question, but fine.

I put my head back in the pillows. Magical brainfreeze should not be underestimated.

Good night, pulsing, flickering world.

They would need to live off of fruits now.


	26. Chapter 26

The next time I woke up, I… had a noise coming from my stomach that neither felt nor sounded healthy.

I curled onto my side and waited for it to stop.

Hell, I had not signed up for this!

When it finally stopped, I frowned at my stomach.

 

I mean, sure, my breakfast was interrupted… and we hadn’t gotten anywhere near a break yet – barely started with the quest, really -, but I should not be hungry enough to give me such stomach pains. The ingredients had all been fresh and fine for consumption, so this should not have been it.

…

So I’m really kind of… burning up my energy? With the flames?

The empty hollow in the middle of my body certainly agreed with the assumption.

 

At least they had left me the snacks.

Because yes, apparently the dragon had put me in my room, thrown my backpack after and then closed the door. Locked, if the princess still not being in here was any indication.

When I sniffed in the direction of the backpack I actually… did smell something.

That something being sweat – my own sweat – and bread and fruit. And… it… didn’t smell too appealing?

The smell of chicken-pieces, however…

I stepped over to the backpack and… pawed at it.

Because that apparently was something that happened when you tried to grab something, but didn’t have… actually well-working opposable thumbs.

I bapped the string that held it together and… now stared at it.

Accusingly, really.

I hadn’t actually wanted to confront the theme of ‘paws’ yet.

But I had to. So I sat down on the floor again.

Something was wrong with the amount of flexibility I used for that. And how much of it, but… again, not dealing with that.

For now? Paws.

For all intents and purposes… they were just that.

But… the… fingers – with beans, really, I had beans now – were longer than it was… proper for… cats. Because beans meant cats, right?

 

so that… was okay, somewhat, even though my wrist was… much thicker and definitely less movable than before. Writing would be a hassle.

On the bright side, though: Writing would not be impossible, because I… could stretch out the outmost… finger-toe. And I could hold things. Very carefully.

…

I had a feeling I would get a cramp if I did that too often, though.

Ah, anyway.

Food. Food was important. Not new knowledge.

That was a novelty-situation, but it has happened nonetheless and now I carefully pried open my bag.

And then stared at my leaf-wrapped sandwiches and – it was not my most glamorous moment – I put the first one between my paws… and shoved it in my mouth.

It fit.

And honestly? Simply chewing through everything – and feeling my teeth actually just cut through all of it?

Satisfying. Very satisfying.

And so I did the same with the other sandwiches… and then curled back up on my bed.

The 'denial’-course of action has… proved successful thus far.

I put a… paw over my face.

At least a little less hungry, I simply wanted to sleep again.


	27. Chapter 27

The next time I woke up… I was hungry again. It was actually a gnawing hunger.

And I… decided to try to open the door.

Still no princess, but… maybe she just gave up?

I walked to the door… grabbed the handle… pressed down and… it was stuck.

Well. It was slightly stuck anyway… sometimes… so I… pushed a little harder. And it gave a ‘ping’ sound and… I was free!

A dragon sat outside, waving a tail lazily from side.

“Ah. You made it out. Stronger blood than I expected. I guess you are hungry,” she pointed to the counter: “I went out for a hunt. You might… be a little hungrier than usual”

I frowned at her… and then looked over there.

“… that… is half deer. Cut apart,” I frowned at it.

“Mhmh, should be enough for now, but if think you need more, I can still get you more if you need it,” she nodded at me.

“This is… half a raw dear!,” I gestured at it

“True, good appetite. For now, I mean,” she smiled.

I stared for a moment longer until I… gave up, and followed the smell of blood.

The last time I smelled blood, it… smelled less exciting.

So… what the hell?

I was hungry. And… and my teeth had felt… good gliding through the wrapping of the sandwiches. It… had been nice. And… I really was hungry.

The… the pieces weren’t even bite-sized. It were… big chunks of raw meat, not exactly bloody, but… raw. Very raw.

And I… sunk my teeth into it.

It was easy.

It was very easy and the taste of the flesh was… very satisfying.

And then I chewed.

And damn did it feel good. I almost moaned.

“… I’m glad you approve,” a lazy dragon answered, doing… nothing in particular.

I continued to eat. I ate a quarter of a deer, actually, until I said: “What… is up with me?”

“Mh? Oh. The princess broke your glamour. Together with the spell the mermaid put on you. A bit unfortunate, but… well… it’s not like you were harmed,” she smiled, still just… lazing around.

“I… have paws. If you did not notice. I’m more used to… hands. It’s… I wouldn’t call myself unharmed,” because seriously. I frowned at her.

“Well, it’s your natural form. You shouldn’t be too surprised?,” now she even chuckled.

I… bit into another piece of meat and chewed – with a frown – before I answered: “I… was in my natural form. This is a weird form. It… I have paws. And teeth. And… beans and… I’m burning”

“Well, you’re part Ifrit. What did you expect? Goat hooves? I mean… you wouldn’t be wrong, but I think the horns suit you better”

“… what,” I shook my head.

“It is just an opinion. Of course, if you mourn the loss of hooves… I… still have the opinion the horns are the better choice,” she shrugged.

“I… that…”

“Eat your meat, you don’t eat enough,” it sounded like an order.

It probably was.

I stared at the meat.

“Can I have some more?”

“… mh, sure. Make sure not to burn the kitchen”

It sounded like a joke, but… when I looked at my flame… it… was a bit… bigger?


	28. Chapter 28

Now, I had to live with the fact that I had eaten a whole deer.

Raw.

… and it had been good.

I believe it was simply one of those facts of life that… came over you. One day.

You can eat a deer and still be hungry.

Also: You can have a flame burning on your head. Without burning anything else.

Even if you are laying around on a flammable bed.

In a bit of frustration, I had just flomped back on the bed, face first.

A second later I had gotten up again and… not even a scorch-mark.

It really was dependant on what I wanted. If it burned something or not.

It gave me a moment of ‘huh’.

In my lands, this was heard of, but… rare. Truly rare.

… actually, I had not seen that before.

Only read about it.

It was… interesting, to see that I now… possessed that… ability?

My 'hands’ were certainly something… else.

But otherwise… for now?

I was more curious about the whole thing… I mean… I woke up and had massive cuffs on my hands. They were actually made of solid gold. It was ridiculous.

But my arms were actually made for this kind of weight. I barely even felt it.

It was all very strange. My hair certainly had a sudden growth-spurt… I was pillowed on it, seriously. Not to mention the horns.

All was a bit… weird. But in the end I… was not that bothered. It didn’t feel horribly wrong. Not even the huge amount of meat in his belly felt that wrong. Actually just kind of reassuring. Nice.

Ah, for now, I would probably stay away from the mermaid, though. I didn’t exactly want to repeat that experience.

So I dozed off, until my ears twitched and I woke up.

… immediately alert.

Huh.

Sitting up, I blinked my eyes, expecting someone entering my room.

I… had to wait for about two minutes, still.

Then the door swung open and a very distressed princess ran in and then - after looking at me - clasped her hands in front of her mouth, eyes wide: “Oh… oh no. I am so, so sorry, Azar!”

I tilted my head and wanted to tell her it’s not that bad, for now, but she came to me and looked extremely concerned, looking me up and down: “This should never have happened, I am so, so sorry, the spell went just so wrong, I have to reverse this. I’m sure I CAN reverse this, I’m going to try! It can’t be that hard, there are spells tha-”

“Princess,” she stopped talking for a second, movements halted. She looked up at me, “… for now it is alright, calm down. I’m not in… pain or something like that,” and her spell had brought this on me in the first place, so… I… didn’t exactly trust her abilities for proper spellcasting, “What does the dra-… Michelle say to this,” she had at least given me food, so… maybe a proper name was in order.

A little frown formed on her forehead and she looked to the side: “She… says it’s not that easy. And doesn’t know the spell to make it right again. Said this is right, which it isn’t, so that’s silly! And we need to do something about it! I need to fix you!”

I flinched at that. Being 'fixed’ isn’t exactly a great thing. She didn’t mean that, but still…

“… princess… for now… I… think we’ll let the dragon look at it. I’m… somewhat tired… and… ah… maybe when Michelle is… not sealed any more? For now I’ll… just rest, if that’s alright?,” I laid down again, because really, this was… maybe out of her skill range… most likely.

She continued to fuss a little more, but I closed my eyes, ignoring it.

Maybe cats did have the right idea.

Mhr.


	29. Chapter 29

At some point, I left my room again.

Got myself some more food. The dragon – Michelle – was actually really useful for that. She left me a deer. And then went away again.

So… it was somewhat enjoyable.

But otherwise I just wanted to… to rest.

All this was really a bit taxing on everything and I had this overwhelming urge to slep all the time. And eat. I should not forget eating.

But really, that was all. I just… didn’t want to do things.

And when the princess fussed over me again when I sat in the kitchen, I simply looked at her, chin propped up on my elbow, and slowly, but surely shoved the cup down the table.

Then stood up and lazily traipsed back to my room.

It didn’t shatter, but she did say something along the lines of questioning my sanity.

A pan followed the cup to the floor.

And I curled back in my bed. It was nice and soft and had accumulated more pillows. I might have stolen some from around the castle. No one could blame me. It was softer. And my skin still felt somewhat… odd.

Very comfy, though.

I was also thankful for the lock at my door.

Peaceful, peaceful rest.

 

 

Life went on, for a while… I really wasn’t sure how long, but the next unusual thing I really recognised was something in my hair, my mane.

The thing scratched me behind my ears.

With the heavy golden cuffs I had taken to sleeping on my side.

I felt my chest vibrating, too… I seemed to be… purring?

It was all a little odd, but it was a good smell in the air, like… like fresh herbs and mint and… a forest… kind of.

I rolled on my belly, exposing my nape. It was nice, the scritches.

And they did follow where they were supposed to, so I leaned into them.

It urged the scritch-giver to chuckle.

And I finally blinked my eyes… and looked at the source of noise, maybe a little owlishly.

The source looked back, mirth all over his face, and resettled his hand behind my horns, petting there.

It… felt nice.

So I let my head fall back onto my arms again.

Until it finally damned on me who was in front of me.

And I mumbled: “… Sir Israfil?”

“Mmmmhmh,” came the murmured answer. There were noises from the side. He had moved from a crouch to a sitting position, resettling.

After two more minutes of silent caresses, I assumed there would not be any more information if I did not ask, so I at least attempted a conversation: “… so you’re back”

“Mmmmmhmh,” was the answer.

… he was apparently hellbent on being unhelpful, so I turned my head and opened one eye to look at him. Properly.

… he was still awfully pretty.

Especially with this smile.

I made a sound.

He seemed to interpret it as a reason to change the scritching-place.

… good choice.

I almost had my eyes closed again when I realised I should probably say something about what happened.

“… I changed a little… while you were gone…” because that was… true.

“Mmmmmh… well… one ban magic spell… Princess Gabrielle seems to have talent I the illusionary magic,” he nodded. And didn’t seem to be the slightest bit concerned.

Only concerned about my hair.

And – apparently – my feeding habits?

Because there was a piece of meat in front of me.

And I rolled around again. This time on my back. And took the piece between my teeth before wolfing it down.

It was good meat.

Actually only a piece of muscle without sinews or cartilages.

He continued feeding and petting – strangely enough it was not annoying – and then stopped the feeding when I was full and… that was that.

No pressure.

He had probably come a little closer…

I felt myself relaxing.

Somehow it felt like I would be… more awake when I woke up.

I didn’t mind this company.

For now.

When I realised the purring sound came from my own chest, I was already asleep again.


	30. Chapter 30

The next time I woke up, the world was warm. And I did feel better. Less tired.

Over me? The noise of a page turning.

And a hand was still in my hair, but only stroking lightly.

I yawned. And then opened one eye to look up.

Sir Israfil was still there, and now moved his eyes to meet mine. And smiled: “Good morning…”

As if it was the most normal thing in the world.

He then closed the book and put it on the nightstand a little further up. All without looking away, giving me his full attention.

One hand in my hair and the other now placed on the pillow on his lap.

The pillow my head was also located on.

… my head was on his lap.

I blinked.

Actually, I was wrapped all around him.

Sir Israfil was sitting perfectly straight and I was… wrapped around his sitting form, head on his lap.

…

I… supposed there were… worse situations.

“… are you… comfortable? Sir?,” because… it might be worth asking?

“But of course,” he smiled again, inclined his head a little, too.

“… so we… stay like that…?,” it was a little off.

“If you wish,” he aid and moved his hand a little, stroking over a different area of hair.

I wished. Kind of.

“… Lady Michelle said I am… normal now,” I frowned, and then nodded. That was the gist of it.

Sire Israfil hummed for a moment, then shook his head lightly: “That would be… incorrect. You were enchanted before birth, I believe you were not aware of this form… were you?”

He raised his brows to ask me.

“… ah… no, this… no, I was not aware of this, no one knew anything about this!,” seriously!

“So your dad didn’t say anything. Ah well. It’s allowed. I hope at least your mother knows about his Ifrit-nature,” he rubbed his chin.

“Ifri-,” I frowned.

“My DAD?!”


	31. Chapter 31

“Ah, yes. The cuffs are usually a sign of male lineage, so I would assume so,” he nodded a little and tapped a finger on one of the cuffs.

When I still looked at him with straight-up disbelief, he shrugged: “Of course I can be wrong. Sex is not a particularly well-set thing with fire-beings. Maybe your mother deci-”

“Nonono, you tell me that one of my parents is… is this?!,” and Ifrit? As was said?

“Ah, no,” that… was at least half of a good answer?

“No, you are only half Ifrit, they will be a lot more… ah… djinn-alike. In their natural forms,” he drew figures in the air. They certainly meant something for people that were more… casually familiar with the topic.

Which I was… not. Decidedly not.

He seemed to notice my lack of understanding and tilted his head a little more: “… all magical beings have a permanent glamour about them… it adjusts them more to this world and makes them more acceptable for all humans. Was that why you are confused?”

Apparently, my jaw had dropped. Somewhat. Because it was open when I stared at him: “My… my parents are magical beings?!”

“… only – presumably – your father. Your mother is a human,” he smiled a little more friendly. Or careful, maybe. There was a softness to it.

That didn’t make it much better, though: “But my dad is not human,” which… is not exactly easy to swallow. Just like that!

“… yes. And now your glamour is gone, so you… are less suited for life in this world… and less acceptable for humans. So… I opened a portal to the world of origin for Ifrits… I think you should feel a little better?,” he gestured to the fireplace.

Magma bubbled in there.

I… didn’t want to think too much about it. So my attention returned to Sir Israfil. Bringer of… news.

“… … … I… do feel better,” I didn’t feel inclined to throw things down, neither eat whole deers. Which… probably? Good sign.

“Ah. That is… good. Again: I had not assumed the princess had such an affinity to illusions. Not of the practical kind, at least. It is a bit complicated to put a glamour back on, so I am glad she did not try. In other worlds, there are paid services for it. Your parent was not cheap, it’s even inheritable,” he said. Probably not sure why himself. He at least looked a little bit lost.

“… is that why you are so… courteous to me now? Because you think it’s your fault?”

That is an… entirely reasonable question.

He had always been distant. Even if I had wanted to talk he only did so while doing other things.

His eyebrows rose at that. And he blinked.


	32. Chapter 32

“Is that what you thought? Truly?,” he chuckled, looking truly amused. Somehow on my expense.  
“… it’s… not that funny,” my giant hand bapped at his arm.  
“Ah, but it is. You expected guilt as a motivator? After I brought you into a lair of a dragon? Guilt?,” he shook his head and ruffled my hair, still snickering  
Well, at least he was… more… animated than usual. Even if… a little evil.

 

“… you know… now that you remind me, it really was a shitty move,” when he raised his brows, I waved my hands lazily, “Not that I’m complaining, I learn a lot and that’s what I set out to do, but still. Lady Michelle could have killed me…”, because she could. Certainly growled at me.  
“But she did not. Since I was tasked to bring you, it would have been… counterproductive, anyway,” he shrugged a bit, “… but I suppose you want to know the actual reason?”  
While he put my hair back into presentabe shape, I grumbled a little ‘of course’ towards him.   
“Maybe you noticed that I do care about your - both of your - wellbeing…?,” when he actually paused, I realised he wanted an answer.  
“Uh, I suppose?”, I gestured slightly. He went hunting for us and renovated the castle, bringing supplies, too… and he had taken care of the princess… so… yeah, I guessed.  
“Hm, well, I do. And I take the task seriously. Up to now, you two believed o be entirely human, ´which makes me… less appropriate a conversational partner. Seeing that I do not stem from this world either”  
I gave him a suspicious look: “Soooo~”  
He laughed - actually laughed - and then put a long finger on his smiling lips, *winking* at me: “That would be telling. Keep up your magic lessons and you’ll figure it out”  
Now it was my turn to raise a brow: “… are.. are you trying to… motiate me to learn?!,” like… to do the only thing I actually came here for?!  
“Well, it’s an extra-reward, I suppose,” he chuckled some more.  
Pretty bastard.  
“… but yes, since you are now somewhat more aware… it… requires further attention. You are not used to this situation, after all. You should not be alone like this, when you actually regain energy you could use to panic… not if I can help it. And the portal would close if I were to leave. Opening portals to fire-dimensions is not my strong suit, but you are a very… strong conductor, really. With half of you originating there,” he patted my head again, looking over to the fire place.  
I followed the gaze.   
So one of my parents… came from there.   
… I… could… possibly take… a look?


	33. Chapter 33

The other side looked like the grave of overly prepared corn. With ketchup. It’s blubbering rocks, and if I concentrated long enough, there was a very crisp, intense smell about it. Pleasant, but putting me on edge.

I felt a little torn, taking it in.

The question if I could cross through popped up again. I somehow… wanted to. See the place of my forefathers…

… I had a whole different family-history waiting there.

A whole world that is half my own and I knew almost nothing about. Hadn’t even known existed.

… but it somehow felt weirdly right. Rang true.

Blinking at it, I still hadn’t come to a conclusion when the smell of herbs and fresh earth came back to my senses, distracting from the burnt sea.

Sir Israfil had reached over to tousle the hair on my forehead: “Don’t think too hard about going. Not yet, you couldn’t withstand the heat, I am sorry”

I looked back at him, he looked a bit apologetic, so I said: “Well… you said… ‘yet’, right? You… can teach me…?

He blinked, then nodded: “Heh, yes. Yes, I can. If you want me to… I’ll help to the best of my abilities”

Which… fair. He had said fire isn’t… his strong suit, right? Right.

“So… okay… okay… I… you said I’m good with the portal? I… do I need to stay in this room now? Close to the portal? I’m… stuck? And you, too?,” which… really, it… I wasn’t complaining, stuck with the knight, but… being stuck wasn’t good and he might want to GO…

For now he petted me, though. Mh.

“No, no… you aren’t… you… can learn how to keep a connection open yourself. You are the conductor right now… I would have slight trouble without your presence. You are eager to learn, I’m sure you can soon. And… then… well… there is also Lady Michelle. She is not connected to your own home world, but she… she can help with that, too. Her seal is off, so… you’ll be fine around her”

Stuck with the dragon.

Huh.

I scratched my belly.

These were slightly worrying developments.

“… you take all this remarkably well,” he had tilted his head again, never stopping to stroke over my hair.

I gestured at the caressing hand: “That… might be part of it… I miss people. I’m used to people”

A full house of them, really. Never alone. And very huggy people, too. As annoying as that always had been, I got used to it, “… got scary things, but something familiar back, too?”

He blinked a few more times: “Ah,” he seemed to think for a bit, “It… certainly makes sense. I certainly prefer it that way, but… relax, yes? No need to only panic in private, I am willing to answer all questions you might have”

When I looked at him then, his eyebrows went up again and he moved back a tiny bit. Maybe I look up a little over-eager.

“Any question, yes?,” my smile almost hurt the edges of my mouth.

He nodded sagely: “Yes, with obligatory breaks for nourishment”

“Well then…,” I looked more directly at him then, “… a´lets start with the nourishment!”

This will be a long day for Sir Israfil. And a very educational one for myself.


	34. Chapter 34

It started off with the answer that I looked for.

He told me I could definitely eat whatever I always did, and I should make sure to always drink enough. It was a very common problem for Ifrit-descendants: They forget to drink and got severely dehydrated, even losing consciousness, without the slightest feeling of thirst.

And now that he said it… I… couldn’t exactly remember when I last drank something.

No thirst either.

He tapped my nose – it was a much flatter nose now – and said: “Don’t forget, it helps to ground you to this world as well. You are not an Ifrit. Not completely. So take care of yourself, mh?”

My nose wrinkled. And I sneezed, hair all over the place.

Sir Israfil laughed and, with a ‘C'mere’, pulled my head onto a pillow completely on his lap and started taking apart my hair.

And then he just… talked. About how an Ifrit – a kind of djinn – was associated with fire and big cats – mostly tigers and lions – and display some behaviours of theirs. Mostly moodiness and the ability to sneak. They are usually proud beings. Their ritual weapon – if they chose one – was the scimitar, but are highly skilled in general with bladed, curved weapons. It usually complimented their fighting style well.

A pure Ifrit was capable of living without a body. Which was horrifying, thinking about it. The advantages of the body he listed afterwards were… uh… somewhat reassuring me. None of my ancestors was going to force me to this.

He also told me that I might be hungry for coal and wood. I should only eat it if I was REALLY hungry for it, please. Just 'trying it out’ might end badly. But if I really wanted, I should go for it.

I looked over at the fireplace… and wood was still stacked next to it and… ah… it didn’t look particularly appetizing, so I might just… not.

He went on about the different parts of the land of Ifrits that I… could not enter right now.

Customs, cities, humour, architecture, culture, weather and general shape of communities. So there were loners and people that sought out groups and people that liked to live in smaller families, so… that was a lot like humans.

“The only thing they pretty much all have in common is their affinity for touches… so… if you feel somewhat touchstarved or really irritated after a while, you need to get your skin ruffled. Or hair. Or anything. Just contact will be important for you then, alright?,” he hadn’t inched away either, from my rolled-around-him position.

So my race was naturally affectionate. Well, I could somewhat attest to that with people I liked. Somewhat.

I…. took it as a good reason to curl tighter around him: “… so that’s why you let me lay all over you? Because of my health?”

“Oh, well,” he frowned slightly, “… well… it IS good for you. But… I wouldn’t mind either way, you simply assumed this position after you slept in with me around”

This information… I’d keep. But, since he said that…

“Ah… do I… actually… burn you?,” I pulled the flame on my head slightly away… and he put it down again, rubbing my horn in retaliation. Which… was a strange feeling.

“No. As long as you don’t want to burn people, it won’t. Really. With the exception of fear or panic. Strong emotions,” he nodded.

And I… blushed a little… and looked away.

He tilted his head: “… what is it?”

“…. strong… emotions?,” I raised a brow.

“Yes?,” that tiny confused frown was back.

“What about… you know…”

He looked at me for a few seconds, and then a few more, and when I took a breath to explain, he said: “OH, copulating. Ah. Usually… not, no. It’d be a case for study, but I’m fairly certain it’s fine. Lesser exertive actions don’t do anything”

I shoved the thought of volunteering for certain studies down. Deep down. And nodded. I… somewhow wanted to move a little.

“… a bite to eat for now? you look restless…”

Well. If he insisted.

I did get a little hungry.

And now that I looked at my notes (scrawled as they are), half the book was full, so… maybe it was time for a break.


	35. Chapter 35

He leads the way.

And I… notice that something in me is very much against pouncing him.

It had crossed my mind, for a moment, to use my state as an excuse to show…. ‘catlike behaviour’, as he had put it.

But in the very same moment I looked to aim, my body clamped up and very firmly shut that down. In all honesty, my hair raised a little.

Something told me it would be a terrible idea.

When he looked back to see where I was, I might have shrunk back a little, since he interrupted his “You comi-,” with an “oh”.

He looked a little sad-confused before he came back to offer me a hand to get up.

The feeling was gone. And my ears moved back up.

I… hadn’t realised I’d flattened them. Hadn’t even really noticed that I could flatten them, but… there we were. I felt them with my fingers.

They are actually pretty big. And twitchy.

That… really was a change I had not yet registered properly. I had been a little out of it, it seemed.

But now I stood, the knight watching me intently.

He hadn’t watched me like that before, I think.

Then I frowned.

I was taller.

Like… not as tall as the other man, but… when I stretched I was almost as tall. And stretch I did.

He smiled a bit indulgently and then moved indicated the kitchen as a destination, with a tilt of his head: “Food?”

“Ah… I suppose,” and I walked.

A lot more aware. With those… more massive arms I did walk a little hunched. Maybe because I had a tiny tail now as well. A tiny one. Bushy and tiny. It was odd.

But at least my legs worked the normal way.

Except for the clicking of claws on the floor. Tiny clicking noises every time I made a step.

I even felt it right up my spine.

Not unpleasantly so, but I had… expectations on the ground.

Maybe Ifrit’s were one of those races with an inherited memory.

When I asked, Sir Israfil said “Maybe,” with a little shrug.

Which once again made me question how his knowledge came to be. He knows how Ifrits like their roast in every city of their country, but not if they have inherited memory.

He ignored my slight frown and handed me a pitcher of water, then: “Drink up”

I stared at it: “… that’s… like… three liters”

“Yes, and now drink up. You won’t feel better, but I guarantee you you won’t feel worse either”

And so, I shrugged as well. If he insisted…

I just… started to gulp it down.

It felt pretty much like nothing.

Weird.

Really weird.

But then it was empty.

Some things might be a little strange to get used to.

“And that is why you need to make sure to drink, alright?”

“… alright,” and… well… why not. It’s not… making me feel worse either.

Hrm.

“So… what’s for dinner, then?,” I asked, because I cooked what he or Lady Michelle brought me, “I think the princess might want to eat something… I… somehow neglected my duties”

“She is fine, do not worry. I got ox. And… ah… the market had a few traders from outside. You…. think you can work with it?

He handed me a box. I opened it. And a very familiar smell came over me.

“… oh”


	36. Chapter 36

It… I hadn’t smelled this particular spice since I had left my homeland.

And currently, it filled my whole mind, memories resurfaced, my father in front of the stove, shoving a spoon full of stew into our waiting mouths.

Tiny mouths. We thought we were entirely entitled to our dad’s stew and thought we were very reasonable. And well thought out.

Which of course entailed tiny hands in other people’s tiny mouths and eyes.

And lots of crying.

… I won. And got a spoonful of stew. At least this time. And had demanded more of exactly this spicy piece of goodness.

I opened my eyes again.

“Thank you…,” I turned to him, properly and…

… noticed he was cutting apart the ox with swift, sure swipes of his blade. Cutting off the skin as well.

He was fairly… good at that.

I suppose that was actually what a knight was supposed to be able to do.

… I apparently repeated myself in my own mind when someone was effortlessly tearing apart flesh from skin.

I decided not to think of the reasons for that.

But instead: “… what? You said…?”

“Which pieces do you want?,” he smiled at me. And still cut.

“Ah… I want to make… stew. So… take the good parts and store them, just… some chuck, please. A little more than usual, I can marinate the rest,” I nodded at him and started to get the other ingredients from the storage compartment.

And a quick check showed none of the potatoes had sprouted. So either the knight truly hadn’t been gone for that long… or our storage system was more impressive than I thought.

Ah well. I took my time to cut everything, with the paws it was a little harder. The knife was easier than a pen, though.

Every two minutes I watched how the ox slowly disappeared into heaps of bone, meat and skin.

It looked like he would use the skin as well.

Inspected it, too.

The question ‘how do you know all that stuff?!’ wanted to get out more and more, but… simply working like this – with the smells and noises surrounding me – was enough. It kind of filled my senses.

Everything was a bit sharper and… better able to occupy my mind.

For now… I wriggled my tail.

And cooked.

It might take a while.

The other inhabitants of the castle might be lured here by the aroma in the meantime.

It certainly was strong enough.


	37. Chapter 37

I felt a little like home, with the aroma in the air. And the cooking noises. And the measured footsteps in the background.

When I tried the stew, the homesickness was worse than I thought.

I felt miserable for a moment.

No one was there.

As fragrant as the stew was, it apparently had not attracted anyone from the castle and here I stood. And quivered a little bit.

I’d blame it on the onions. It’s all the onions fault.

Which made the arm around me even more surprising. I was pulled around and against the knight. Who has thankfully removed the knife from his hand. And patted me on my back now.

“Shush. You’ll worry everyone. The smoke is all over the floor already,” he said and held me a little tighter.

I let a breath go.

And noticed… actual smoke on the floor. It was no weird idiom like “Press the sheep,” where I was… not supposed to do it, but likely would anyway…

“… uh,” I looked up. The smoke HAD come from my flame. It had become… sooty, apparently. Got better by the second, tough.

So… my flame was a mood indicator.

“… this is bad,” I mumbled into his – very soft – hair.

“It’s not, but it will take some getting used to. Fire beings are usually… not very good at deception,” he continued to pat my back, making some soothing motions.

“Hrrrrrrrrrrrrrm,” it sounded like a purr again.

We stayed like this until the stew needed to be stirred.

Then Sir Israfil went to get the dragon and the princess of the castle.

I tried to regain my composure during that time.

But when the door opened and the three of them came in, most thoughts were kind of gone.

And I stared at the dragon.

She smiled at me for a second, too!

… I stared.


	38. Chapter 38

Her image didn’t change a lot, from all that staring.

It stayed as it was.

Unbelievable.

Because no being could walk around and be simply… perfect.

She had an aura of power. That’s an undeniable fact.

Every movement looked like it was an effort not to… destroy the whole building.

And that building was a castle, so it was saying something.

She was made of searing heat.

I suddenly very clearly understood how the portal feeds me and how Lady Michelle would be a replacement for such a portal.

I almost melted under her influence.

It was ridiculously intense and I didn’t really know what to do.

“…was supposed to turn you back! No one can be trusted to do anything around here”

I blinked and stared at the princess. Just for a second. Because she didn’t seem too important right now. Even if she still was a real, proper princess. I… couldn’t bring myself to care.

The slight irritation at least brought me back to reality. I stirred the stew.

And tried. It was… spicy. Just the right amount of spicy, but…

“Lady Michelle, would you like to try?”, I held up the spoon and she tapped over to me, claws clicking on the floor just like mine do, tail swivelling from side to side: “It would be my pleasure”, she says, and I had not noticed her voice up to now. It was almost like she spoke directly into my head.

I shuddered. It… was a little much, but it felt… good. Somehow.

I believe I blushed.

She licked the spoon.

Then looked at the pot with a judging expression… and shrugged: “Sufficient. Good stew”, and sat down at the table.

I let go of my breath then.

If she agreed, it will be perfectly fine.

And I brought the pot to the table, filling a bowl for everyone.

The princess said… a lot of things. And my knight answered, too. I… mostly ignored it.

Lady Michelle ate. And thanked me afterwards.

…

It was unreasonable how happy this made me.

Truly unreasonable.

And I might have to do something about that.

The whole day was very twitchy.

And filled with more emotions than I could handle in one day.

So… even if Sir Israfil thought I should do it myself… maybe a little bit of help would be… good. Otherwise I might not be able to concentrate enough to learn anything, especially when she patted my head.

Puddle-alike feelings were not bad per se, but a dragon was the wrong reason to feel them.

Especially since I was not interested.

Just… when they both had left the room, I placed my forehead on the table and groaned.

This was not my day.


	39. Chapter 39

I twitched when I felt something touch my shoulder, lashed out to hit the offender.

Sir Israfil stopped my wrist in a sure grip.

“I apologise for starting you”, he said, bowing slightly.

I deflated.

‘Dazed’ was the proper description for me at every moment.

The glamour might be necessary, as hard to admit as that was. I could not properly function like this.

I started again when I noticed fingers on my forehead.

The knight looked down at me with a little concern in his eyes: “You are very distracted”, he stated.

Which… I frowned and raised an eyebrow: “Really?!”

I felt like a child immediately after. The last time someone had felt my temperature with cool hands… probably fell in that time, too. Ugh.

“… I need to go to the library. Figure something out about this. This glamour and the situation. Books help”, books help with everything.

When I tried to return to cleaning up the table I noticed my wrist was still captured, a thumb on my pulse, moving slightly.

I stared at that, until the knight attached to the thumb started to hum.

There was a complentative expression on his face, looking where I had been looking before. Still handsome, that expression.

Then he tilted his head and looked me in the eye: “You really did not work much with magic before, mh?”

It was strange, being looked at directly. The knight felt even less human than usual, like that.

Without thinking about it, I tapped his nose.

He went slightly cross-eyed and looked surprised, like any proper human should, so that helped, and I laughed, my wrist finally released.

When he touched his nose, I snickered a little more.

“This… was not an answer”, which was a fact he stated.

“Nope, it was not”, which was another one.

“Mh. I will… conclude you did not have excessive contact with it. Because you are acting… not like you usually would”, which is another truth.

“… but I have less magic now. You said. Glamour dispelled and everything”, which was another fact. I did not know if there was a point to that fact. Because I didn’t know why he even said what he had said, but we were stating facts. So, it fit in the line.

It earned me a small smile. Which was a good.

“True, you are right”, he nodded and looked me in the eye. As if I was slow.

Or inebriated. I was not. I still remembered ‘inebriated’ was a word.

So, I frowned at him.

“That absence now allows for other magic to come to you now. It takes its place. You are a very magical being, after all”, I was pretty sure it did not work that way. But okay. Okay.

… maybe I was a little inebriated.

… ‘inebriated’ was a strange word, if you thought about it for a longer time.

“-like a sixth sense. Something you are born with, but didn’t use – much - until now, it’s a bit overwhelming, I suppose”, he looked somewhat concerned again, all tilty-faced.

I had no idea how that sentence had started. I hoped I hadn’t missed too much.

It seemed like he wanted an answer, though, so I said: “Overwhelmed… got it”, I paused for a second, looking through the room, and then nodded: “Seems right”.

He nodded, too: “So you do need the connection to your world, but you also get overwhelmed by it. Yes?”

I studied his eyelashes. They were pretty long.

Then I looked at the pupils and said: “… yeh”

He looked concerned again. Somewhat.

Then put a hand on my head: “You know what, we’ll let you sleep this off. And in the morning… we’ll see how it goes with a… lesser dose of energy. How does that sound?”

“…”, I had heard the words. Comprehension was a little more difficult. I made an unhappy face.

He ruffled my hair. Probably through my flame and everything.

“Mnh”

He sighed and swept me off my feet.

That had happened before, hadn’t it?

… I clung less for dear life than before.

I somehow ended up in a pile of pillows. And rolled up on them. Good night.


	40. Chapter 40

When I blinked awake, I noticed that I was wrapped around a person.

It was the same person as last time.

I could get used to that. Maybe even the purring sound from my chest. Seemed to stem from the scratches behind my ears.

It really was not that bad.

The headache was gone as well.

It felt… colder than last time, though.

Sir Israfil was still sitting perfectly straight, but this time, he was writing.

And wearing… glasses.

I blinked at the foreign object on his face, I frowned a little.

So, he was apparently far-sighted. Who would have thought.

He put the book to the side when he had finished whatever thought he had been occupied with and piled the glasses on the discarded book.

“Good morning”, he said, smiling at me, “You’ve been awake for five minutes now, how are you feeling?”

“Uh… fine, actually”, much better than the drugged-out state I was in before I slept, that was for certain.

“Really? Not too hot? Too cold?”, he continued scratching my ears, which was… less distracting than last time, I thought.

It was colder. No doubt about it. But if I checked my body: “… it’s fine, actually. A little cooler than usual. But… generally fine”

He hummed. And moved his hand a little. And I twitched: “Hey!”, what did he do?! It felt like something stole my breath. Not… dangerous, but… it was weird to describe, “Stop that!”

He returned to scratching and nodded: “Your flame is… just fed enough. You get just enough energy. Not much to spare. With the portal that is open right now. In your fireplace”, he pointed there.

It was… blubbering less.

Still didn’t look very inviting.

“So… I… will feel… normal… like that?”, that was the goal, right?

He frowned, then shook his head and nodded.

…what.

“Yes. Yes, you will feel ‘normal’ like that, I don’t think you will be overwhelmed like this. But… it’s not a permanent state. You are… less than ideally supplied with energy. A simple touch to your flame should not do anything to you. But you are not in danger to become as sluggish as before. So… now is the time to let you open a portal of your own. And see if we can teach you to regulate how much it is opened. So, you have a portable supply in this form. It’s… probably for the best until we have an idea to let you get your glamour to properly function again”, he nodded.

“So… I can experiment with… states of energy, yes?”, did I get that right?

“Mmmh… yeah, yeah, that’s the plan”, he twirled a strand of hair around a finger.

“Okay, then… how do I open a portal?”, which was probably the first step.

Best if we did start immediately. I… would like a normal life back.

“You take your catalyst… and open it. And since you are your own catalyst, that’s an easy one”, he smiled.

He said I partially belonged there because of my dad – still a weird thought – so fair enough: “… alright. So… how?”

He looked at me, frowned a little… and then said: “You… concentrate on the catalyst and… open it”

“… well, you said that already. How?”

He frowned a little deeper… then said: “Concentrate”, pointed two fingers at me, “… and open”, and moved them to the side.

There was a small rip in the world. Flames everywhere. Extreme heat came from it.

“… then either bind or drop it”, then he pointed to the ceiling. “This was dropping it… the fireplace is the other example. Easy”

I still had after-images of white-hot-glowing stones in my mind.

It… was a bit mindblowing.

“Ah… o…kay. How?”

“You just… do”, he wrinkled his nose.

This… could… possibly become more difficult than expected.


End file.
